Jordan Times
Friday, March 26, 2004
Reforms top summit agenda — FM
By Alia Shukri Hamzeh
TUNIS — Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher on
Thursday said Arab reforms top the agenda of the March 29-30 Tunis summit,
indicating that a related blueprint could be agreed on at the meeting.
"We believe it is important to agree on a number of principles that can act as
guidelines for reforms in the Arab world," Muasher told journalists ahead of his
arrival in Tunis.
But he noted that any such guidelines should consider the privacy of each
country, which should have its own plan of development.
"Reforms are a necessity and they should come from within, and if we do not want
to receive dictates from the outside, we have to come up with our own
initiatives," he said, referring to Washington's recently announced "Greater
Middle East Initiative," which suggests democratising the region.
The proposed initiative spurred controversy in the region because it was
regarded as part of US efforts to enforce change and touch on cultural models.
Others criticised the plan, expected to be presented during the upcoming G-8
meeting in June, because it completely ignores the core regional issue of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Observers believe that Arab countries are trying to come up with their own
reforms to counter the US initiative, which stipulates that the absence of
democracy and human rights in some regional states could serve as a fertile
ground for terrorism.
"It is important to agree on main guidelines and I don't think that we should be
defensive concerning such an issue, just because there are dictates that may
come from the outside," Muasher said.
To Arab leaders convening next week, the summit comes at a time when the peace
process seems to be on the verge of collapse and both Palestinians and Israelis
are stuck in a circle of violence. The impasse have reached new heights after
Israel assassinated Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
"The death of Yassin is not an isolated incident and we believe that this was
aimed not just at Hamas but against Arab moderates," said Muasher. He said
Israel's act of violence was "against the peace process and a viable Palestinian
state."
He added that summit would examine the assassination issue and come up with
resolutions to stop what he described as the "Israeli policy that targets
moderates."
His Majesty King Abdullah recently announced that Jordan and other Arab states
plan to relaunch a peace initiative adopted at the 2002 Beirut summit as part of
efforts to push forth the stalled Middle East peace process.
The initiative calls on Arab countries to normalise ties with Israel in return
for the Jewish state's total withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in the 1967
war.
The top diplomat, meanwhile, said if Israel's plan for a unilateral withdrawal
from Gaza Strip does not fall under the roadmap, it could "create a disaster for
Palestinians."
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last month proposed a unilateral
disengagement plan under which settlements in Gaza would be dismantled. This
include the evacuation of 17 out of 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and
several others in the West Bank.
Palestinians, however, maintain that under such unilateral moves, Israel would
trade in Gaza for permanent control over areas of the West Bank. Hamas announced
it was ready to take over control of Gaza.