By Mohamed Gamal Arafa, IOL Staff
CAIRO,
March 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The Egyptian capital is to host
later Thursday, March 24, the third International Conference against
US and Israeli occupation of Arab countries, with participants
expected to call for removing American military bases as well as
boosting democracy in the region.
Civil
Rights activists and representatives of local, Arab and European
groups opposed to globalization, imperialism and Zionism are expected
to make a strong showing for the widely-publicized event, organized by
the Egyptian group affiliated to the “International Campaign
Against US and Zionist Occupation”.
They
are expected to discuss means of supporting resistance of US and
Israeli occupation of Iraq and Palestine, respectively, as well as
standing up to “US imperialism and globalization” in the Arab
region and the world.
Unlike
its two earlier rounds, the conference this year adds to its agenda
means to face oppression and promoting democracy in Arab countries.
Organizers
said the participants would discuss supporting Arab countries’
struggle for democracy in the face of both Arab oppression and the
US-championed Greater Middle East Initiative.
The
initiative has been earlier pressed by Washington allegedly to promote
democracy in the Arab region in return for political and economic
incentives.
Arabs
have rejected the initiative as a cover-up for US plans to interfere
with the affairs of more Arab countries other than Iraq, which has the
world’s second largest oil reserves.
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A
file photo of Iraqi children studying next the rubble of a
demolished house in Fallujah.
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International
Campaigns
The
conference would hold four workshops to discuss plans for launching
international campaigns to press for world sanctions on Israel,
re-activate the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their
homeland, boycott Israeli products and raise funds for Palestinians
and Iraqis.
The
proposed campaigns also include demanding Washington to end the
occupation of Iraq and shut down its military bases in the region, and
staging demonstrations in various countries against US and Israeli
delegations.
The
participants would also discuss holding two international
demonstrations on September 28 and March 20 to mark the anniversaries
of Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation and US-led invasion
of Iraq.
Among
other proposals is the formation of solidarity committees to stand up
to human rights violations in Arab countries, including illegal
detentions and torture, in addition to supporting prisoners of opinion
in the region.
Changes
in Egypt
Organizers
say lectures would be held on other variant issues as the democratic
changes in Egypt, denying peoples the right to cheap medicine and the
US-led siege on Fallujah that left hundreds dead and thousands
displaced in Iraq last year.
Challenges
facing journalists covering conflicts in occupied countries would be
also raised at the gathering.
The
organizers have invited independent Egyptian workers’ groups and
opposition parties as well as the outlawed but largely tolerated
Muslim Brotherhood to the conference.
First
Students Forum
In
addition, the First Students’ Forum would be held on the sidelines
of the conference, as organizers highlighted that students have been
playing an essential role in the anti-war and anti globalization
movements for years.
“Dictatorships
were overthrown by revolutionary mass movements, triggered by wide
student revolts against those oppressive regimes, which have for years
thrived on the livelihood of their peoples,” read a press release
sent to IslamOnline.net by the organizers.
The
conference is thus held “in view of our conviction of the importance
of the role played by the different trends within the Egyptian
students’ movement, its ability to contribute to radical changes in
the Egyptian society and its struggle against oppression and poverty
and the crucial impact of students’ opposition and struggle against
imperialist and Zionist wars and policies in the region,” it added.
The
statement noted that the Egyptian students’ movement has played an
important role throughout history in the struggle of the Egyptian
people against colonialism, Zionism, against the war on Iraq and in
solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada.
