Arabs rebuff US calls for speedy reforms


AFP
 Date: 12-11-04

RABAT (AFP) - Arab nations rebuffed US calls for speedy democratic reforms, insisting that steps the United States deems essential to stem terrorism be tied to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

While agreeing that political, social and economic liberalization is desirable, senior Arab diplomats disagreed with outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell's argument that reforms could not be delayed for any reason.

Speaker after speaker at the "Forum for the Future" conference here said progress would be difficult, if not impossible, without a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and lambasted the perceived US bias toward Israel.

In the final chairman's statement, meeting participants said "their support for reform in the region will go hand-in-hand with their support for a just, comprehensive and lasting settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict."

Although the United States signed onto the statement, Powell, who was ending what is likely his last official trip abroad, disagreed with the conditions attached to moving ahead with change.

"We can't hold up reform or slow the pace of reform or keep reform from accelerating because of these other issues," he said at a news conference with Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa who co-chaired the meeting.

"They affect the environment in which we are operating but nevertheless, reform is necessary," Powell said at the close of the forum that was attended by top officials from more than 20 Middle East and North African countries.

During the meeting Powell had made the same case directly to the participants, telling them not "to argue about the pace of democratic reform or whether economic reform must precede political reform."

"Increasing opportunities for all citizens, especially women, should not be put on hold to deal with other concerns," he said.

"All of us confront the daily threat of terrorism," Powell said. "To defeat the murderous extremists in our midst, we must work together to address the causes of despair and frustration that extremists exploit for their own ends."

While his audience listened politely, there was clear resistance to putting reforms ahead of a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian or wider Middle East conflict, which they see as the most destabilizing element in the region.

Arab League chief Amr Mussa insisted that peace in the region was necessary for the reforms envisioned by the US-proposed Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) initiative that has been endorsed by the Group of Eight industrialized country.

He said an independent Palestine "is a must" if the US plan is to have any chance of working.

Mussa also questioned whether it was possible "when one of the parties is accused of terrorism" or "without a just peace in the Middle East and Iraq's freedom from anarchy and destruction."

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal put it even more bluntly, telling the conference that the perceived US bias toward Israel was the main obstacle to promoting reform in the region.

"The real bone of contention is the longest conflict in modern history," he said. "For too long the Arabs have witnessed the Western bias toward Israel."

The prince said the Arab world understood US security guarantees to Israel but could not comprehend how Washington's backing for regional democracy did not extend to restraining Israel in the Palestinian territories.

"What the Arab peoples cannot fathom is why these guarantees are translated into unrestricted backing of unrestrained Israeli policies (that are) contrary to international legality," Saud said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit echoed his Saudi counterpart and said reform moves would remain stalled without action on the internationally backed "roadmap" peace plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

Their comments reflected the outcry the US plan has provoked in many of the countries targeted for reforms from Mauritania to Pakistan, where anti-Americanism runs high over the Iraq war and US Middle East policy.

There are also deep suspicions that the United States wants to use the initiative to impose Western values on traditional societies, a sentiment US officials have struggled to refute.

The final statement, though, made clear that the forum had agreed that reforms must be homegrown, could not be imposed from outside and had to move at a pace suitable for each country.

And despite the differences, the participants agreed to meet again next year in Bahrain, the only country to offer to host the next conference, according to Benaissa.

On Friday, Powell downplayed hopes for major breakthroughs at the conference, saying that just holding the meeting was a success because of the impression that it was the United States "dictating to the world."

After the meeting concluded, he expressed satisfaction that the forum had agreed on a number of economic and social initiatives such as a microcredit scheme, a task force on foreign investment and a literacy program.

US officials had hoped to be able to announce the creation of a 100-million-dollar fund to assist small businesses in the region, but at the end of the conference only 60 million dollars had been pledged.

Source

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.