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Hariri: Oslo has led to a dead end
Dubai: Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has criticized international attempts to solve the Arab Israeli conflict.
Speaking on the second day of the Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai, Hariri said Western peace proposals, including the current U.S.-backed "road map," are "all based on the premise that the Palestinian people should prove that they deserve a separate state.
Speaking on the second day of the Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai, Hariri said Western peace proposals, including the current U.S.-backed "road map," are "all based on the premise that the Palestinian people should prove that they deserve a separate state.
"This logic is based on the logic of the Oslo Accords, which has led the peace process into a dead end," he said.
Hariri also insisted that a Palestinian state must have Jerusalem as its capital.
He told the forum that the Arab world is growing weary of hearing U.S. and European Union proposals for the creation of a Palestinian state.
"We hear daily about American and European visions of peace for this region and their rhetoric about a Palestinian state," he said. "Based on this conviction, there should be at least an attempt to implement plans to create a state today instead of tomorrow.
"It's wrong to look at the creation of a Palestinian state as a consolation prize if they behave themselves," he added. "A Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is the Palestinian people's right."
Hariri said that Palestinians were "ready for a comprehensive peace, based on international resolutions."
He also called for the removal of Israeli forces from Lebanese and Syrian-occupied land in line with UN Security Council resolutions.
Commenting on the situation in Iraq, Hariri said the future of the country was important to the entire region.
"We believe that giving the Iraqi people the independence to determine their own fate, end the coalition occupation and maintain its unity, is a challenge not only for the Iraqi people but for all of the Arab world," he said, adding that next month's scheduled elections in the war-torn country were a chance for Iraqis to show their unity and commitment to democracy.
"There is no reason for the continuation of the internal struggle in Iraq," he said.
Commenting on the wider issues facing the Middle East, Hariri said the region must define its objectives and the future that the Arab world wants over the coming 15 years.
He added that the Arab world must match words with deeds "to improve the international credibility of Arabs."
He urged governments across the entire Middle East to plan their economies for "a world based on science and political reforms."
Meanwhile, in other summit news, Libya announced plans to open up its banking sector to Arab investors and privatize two major government banks.
The move is part of the former international pariah's attempt to shift its centralized economy to a more market-oriented one, as it seeks to decrease its heavy dependence on oil exports.
Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem said: "We will first start with Arab banks while at the same time privatize two major banks."
Ghanem also announced a reform of Libya's telecommunications sector.
Larsen to oversee 1559
UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Kofi Annan on Tuesday picked UN Mideast envoy Terje Roed-Larsen to oversee the implementation of a Security Council resolution calling for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon. Larsen will take up his new assignment as special envoy on Jan. 3, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
Resolution 1559, proposed by France and the U.S., calls for an end to foreign forces and respect for Lebanese sovereignty.
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=11019
Hariri also insisted that a Palestinian state must have Jerusalem as its capital.
He told the forum that the Arab world is growing weary of hearing U.S. and European Union proposals for the creation of a Palestinian state.
"We hear daily about American and European visions of peace for this region and their rhetoric about a Palestinian state," he said. "Based on this conviction, there should be at least an attempt to implement plans to create a state today instead of tomorrow.
"It's wrong to look at the creation of a Palestinian state as a consolation prize if they behave themselves," he added. "A Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is the Palestinian people's right."
Hariri said that Palestinians were "ready for a comprehensive peace, based on international resolutions."
He also called for the removal of Israeli forces from Lebanese and Syrian-occupied land in line with UN Security Council resolutions.
Commenting on the situation in Iraq, Hariri said the future of the country was important to the entire region.
"We believe that giving the Iraqi people the independence to determine their own fate, end the coalition occupation and maintain its unity, is a challenge not only for the Iraqi people but for all of the Arab world," he said, adding that next month's scheduled elections in the war-torn country were a chance for Iraqis to show their unity and commitment to democracy.
"There is no reason for the continuation of the internal struggle in Iraq," he said.
Commenting on the wider issues facing the Middle East, Hariri said the region must define its objectives and the future that the Arab world wants over the coming 15 years.
He added that the Arab world must match words with deeds "to improve the international credibility of Arabs."
He urged governments across the entire Middle East to plan their economies for "a world based on science and political reforms."
Meanwhile, in other summit news, Libya announced plans to open up its banking sector to Arab investors and privatize two major government banks.
The move is part of the former international pariah's attempt to shift its centralized economy to a more market-oriented one, as it seeks to decrease its heavy dependence on oil exports.
Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem said: "We will first start with Arab banks while at the same time privatize two major banks."
Ghanem also announced a reform of Libya's telecommunications sector.
Larsen to oversee 1559
UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Kofi Annan on Tuesday picked UN Mideast envoy Terje Roed-Larsen to oversee the implementation of a Security Council resolution calling for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon. Larsen will take up his new assignment as special envoy on Jan. 3, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
Resolution 1559, proposed by France and the U.S., calls for an end to foreign forces and respect for Lebanese sovereignty.
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=11019
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International recognition and sovereignty are related, but they are not the same. In the Middle East, this is a point that has particular poignancy.
The Palestinians are a case in point. Formerly under Ottoman control and then subjected to the British Mandate after World War One, they were then conquered by the Israeli state-in-waiting. They have been stateless since Israel was declared in May 1948. It is both a tragedy and a problem of global proportions, and thus far every attempt to achieve a just solution for the Palestinians has yielded only bitter fruit.
A fresh approach is long overdue. The Arab Strategy Forum currently underway in Dubai is touted as an international gathering the purpose of which is precisely to brainstorm new ways to look at old problems. Those gathered there, of course, are also considering the problems of today and how to clear the hurdles already visible on the horizon. It is in this context that former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, in his speech at the Dubai forum on Tuesday, outlined an approach to solving the Palestinian dilemma that is as simple as it is fresh: Give the Palestinians a state.
Yes, it will be a state under occupation that will have to negotiate its sovereignty. A state, Hariri said, has for too long been promised as a reward for the Palestinians' good behavior - with the definition of "good behavior" changing at the whim of Israeli leaders so that a Palestinian state became only a mirage. This is the mentality of the 1993 Oslo Accord which, Hariri said, brought the peace process to a standstill. It is, indeed, a direct approach to the problem that will by-pass the pitfalls of the moribund "road map." There will be a Palestinian state, so make it "today instead of tomorrow," according to Hariri. He might just have the answer.
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&article_id=10995&categ_id=17
That's funny. All sorts of Arab and Israeli peace initiatives have started bubbling up in the last month or so after being buried for years -- in fact, buried since Arafat buried Oslo. Now the frontrunner for Palestinian leadership sez things like this:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/514456.html
Gee, what changed about the Palestinian leadership about a month ago, causing all these moribund peace overtures to suddenly spring back to life?
@%<