|
Arab-Israeli peace stressed in G8 Mideast plan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-06-10 09:20 The Group of Eight stressed the need to resolve
the Arab-Israeli conflict when they launched an initiative on Wednesday for
political and economic reform in the broader Middle East region.
"Our support for reform in the region will go hand-in-hand with our support
for a just, comprehensive and lasting settlement to the Arab-Israeli-conflict"
based on U.N. resolutions, said a statement issued by the G8 major industrial
nations at their summit in Sea Island, Georgia.
European
Commission President Romano Prodi (R) confers with Russian President
Vladimir Putin (L), as new Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar looks on,
during a group photo G8 Summit participants in Sea Island, Georgia June 9,
2004. [Reuters] | As part of the drive, the so-called Quartet that is mediating in Middle East
peace efforts will return to the region by the end of the month, the G8 agreed
on Wednesday, according to G8 sources.
The sources said the group had agreed the Quartet -- the United States, the
European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- would provide practical help
including assisting with municipal elections in the occupied Palestinian
territories.
They said that a separate statement on the Quartet's return to the region
would be issued later on Wednesday .
U.S. President Bush, whose war in Iraq was deeply opposed by allies such as
France and Germany, pushed the G8's Middle East initiative as a means of moving
on to wider reform in the region after the war.
The G8 is made up of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Canada and Russia.
The Bush administration has been pushing the plan with the argument that
reform in the Arab world is the best antidote to religious extremism and Arab
hostility to the United States.
Despite the surge in violence in Iraq and a scandal over abuse of Iraqi
prisoners by U.S. soldiers in April that has also hit his popularity at home
five months before U.S. presidential elections, Bush views Iraq as a potential
catalyst for reform in the region.
An early draft of the plan that emerged several months ago drew heavy
criticism from Arab nations because it did not mention the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict and was viewed as paternalistic.
The statement issued on Wednesday said "successful reform depends on the
countries in the region and change should not and cannot be imposed from
outside."
The statement said that the "resolution of long-lasting, often bitter
disputes, especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is an important element
of progress in the region."
SUPPORT FOR IRAQ ELECTIONS
But it noted that "at the same time, regional conflicts must not be an
obstacle for reforms. Indeed reforms may make a significant contribution toward
resolving them."
The plan, titled "Partnership for Progress and a Common Future with the
Region of the Broader Middle East and North Africa," also pledged support for
the electoral process in Iraq.
Iraq is to start preparing for elections by January after power is handed to
an interim government on June 30, a transfer endorsed by a unanimous U.N.
Security Council vote on Tuesday.
The U.N. vote was hailed by Bush and his key ally in the war, British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, as a show of international unity that meant the divisions
over the Iraq war were behind them.
An accompanying document to the G8 communique outlined a series of efforts to
help boost democracy and the economy in the broader Middle East region.
The plan calls for the setting up of a "forum for the future" to bring
together G8 and regional ministers regularly for talks on political, economic
and social reform.
It also includes proposals to launch microfinancing for small business, boost
literacy levels in the region, set up a program to coordinate programs on
democracy and support efforts to hold free and fair elections.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
