OIC Members Upset With Arab Nations' Relations With Israel
WASHINGTON, May 25 (IslamOnline) - Reports of widespread anger in the Middle East over some countries' continuing relations with Israel leaked out of the region Friday.
A Gulf diplomatic source reports that several Gulf foreign ministers may boycott the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar, on May 26th to discuss ways and means to support the Palestinians, the AFP news agency reported.
According to the unidentified diplomat, the boycott decision has been taken to protest Qatar's hosting of an Israeli commercial liaison office.
As a result, key OIC member-states foreign ministers will send low-key officials to the conference instead of attending themselves.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal will send his deputy Nizar Madani, the UAE will send a senior official from the foreign ministry and Kuwait will send State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Salem Sabah.
Another unnamed diplomat told AFP, "How can we support the Palestinians if some states have not complied with the Cairo Arab summit and the Doha OIC summit, which called for cutting relations with Israel?"
Morocco, Oman and Tunisia had already closed all Israeli offices in their country.
Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel, but Egypt pulled its ambassador to Egypt last November after the outbreak of the Intifada and Jordan has delayed sending its ambassador to Tel Aviv.
However, the OIC summit did not call for the abolishment of agreements with the Jewish state by member states.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has called upon the Arab League to revoke Mauritania's OIC membership for not complying with the league's recommendation to suspend all political contacts with the Zionist state until it stops the use of military force against the Palestinians.
Palestinian Minister of Information Yasser Abed Rabbo condemned the Mauritanian Foreign Minister's visit to Israel last week, saying it violated the league's decision.
"If Mauritania is not ready to comply with the resolutions of the Arab League to suspend diplomatic ties [with Israel], this shows that Mauritania should not be a member in the Arab League," Abed Rabbo said.
Mauritanian Foreign Minister Abdi met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Jerusalem on Wednesday. He was in Israel on a two-day visit.
Opposition parties in Mauritania has also criticized the controversial visit. The Popular Committee for Anti-Normalization with Israel described the visit as a "betrayal of the Arab and Muslim cause."
