Lebanonwire, January 31, 2003

The Daily Star

Khalil Fleihan
Daily Star correspondent

Lebanon, as chair of the Arab summit, called Thursday for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to be held in the first half of February to discuss the situation in the region, particularly the “accelerating and escalating threats” against Iraq.
Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud said the call was based on resolutions adopted by the summit conference held in Beirut last March that warned against attacking any Arab country, especially Iraq. The conference also declared that any such attack would be considered a threat to the security of the Arab region as a whole.
The foreign minister consulted with his Arab counterparts on the purpose and venue of the meeting. He also asked Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa to distribute invitations for the gathering.
Informed sources said that two out of three influential Arab countries friendly with the United States, namely Egypt and Jordan, had agreed to convening the meeting. The sources indicated that Hammoud’s move was prompted by information he had received on the approach of “zero hour” for launching war on Iraq and in view of Lebanon’s responsibility as current chair of the Arab summit and foreign ministers’ council.
In addition, the sources said, Lebanon believes in the need for adopting a unified Arab position on American-British military threats against Iraq.
According to the sources, the meeting, as per custom, would most probably be held at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, but certain diplomats suggested that it be convened in Baghdad and that “extraordinary and daring decisions” be taken to lead to the averting of a military solution.
For his part, Speaker Nabih Berri said the onslaught “is not aimed at a specific Arab country without the other, but is designed to change the whole Arab (government) system.”
He affirmed that the only way out of the present situation lay in inter-Arab solidarity and said had it not been for Arab “weakness” the extremist Israeli right would not have reached power.
“Had the Arabs been united … the United States and Israel would have taken them into account, but as long as the Arabs are divided the Jews will elect only war criminals,” Berri said.
Meanwhile, Hammoud notified Lebanon’s acting permanent delegate to the UN, Husam Diab, of amendments that should be introduced to a draft resolution before the Security Council. The resolution, which will be voted on Thursday, provides for renewing the mandate of UNIFIL for an additional six months, starting Feb. 1.
Hammoud drew attention to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s praise, in a report to the Security Council, for measures taken by the Lebanese government to restore its effective authority to the South.
He also referred to the report’s criticism of acts of violence and aerial, naval and land violations by Israel, and Annan’s call for putting an end to the violations.
The foreign minister described the draft resolution as reasonable given the current circumstances and said it pointed to the need for maintaining UNIFIL’s mission. On Thursday, the council renewed the force’s mandate until July 31 by adopting Resolution 1461.
Earlier, Hammoud received the British ambassador, Richard Kinchen, who told reporters that discussions covered bilateral ties, the regional situation and a planned visit to Lebanon by a British parliamentary delegation in the near future.
Referring to the Iraqi issue, Kinchen said prospects for progress with Iraq remained doubtful, expressing deep concern over a report submitted to the Security Council by Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector.
“We urge Iraq to cooperate in full with the UN and its inspectors,” he added.
Replying to a question on whether the planned meeting Friday between US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair could be described as “the declaration of war summit,” Kinchen said he thought important discussions would take place and that they would cover several items on the agenda.
“Iraq is not the only issue, as we are also very interested in the peace process in the Middle East,” he added.
He said British Minister of State for the Development of International Relations Claire Short delivered a very important speech Wednesday underlining the desperate humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories.
She also reaffirmed the need for speedy measures to back the possibility of reaching a solution based on establishing two states, including a viable Palestinian state, and ceasing to build Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory.
Kinchen expressed hope this would be accomplished and said his country’s government looked forward to this aim.

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