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by Mona Salem CAIRO (AFP) - The Arab League is getting ready to announce its rejection of any sharing of Jerusalem's holy sites and its commitment to "Palestinian sovereignty over east Jerusalem," during its ministerial council meeting due on Sunday and Monday in Cairo.
Dubbed "the Jerusalem session," this meeting is expected to adopt a resolution calling on the international community "to put pressure on Israel to stop its illegal practices in Jerusalem, particularly over settlements, confiscation of land and plans aimed at destroying and dividing up the compound of mosques," the Palestinian ambassador to the League, Mohamed Sobeih, is reported to have said. The Palestinians Thursday rejected a proposition from the U.S. aimed at unblocking Israeli-Palestinian peace talks by sharing the holy Christian and Muslim sites in the old city of Jerusalem. The Arab foreign ministers are also expected to "reaffirm Palestinian sovereignty over east Jerusalem, which is part of the territories occupied in 1967, from which Israel must withdraw in line with resolution 242 of the UN security council," Sobeih added. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will give a speech at the inaugural session of this meeting, which comes shortly before U.S. President Bill Clinton's separate meetings with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, planned for September 6th in New York. But differences risk emerging at the meeting over ways of putting pressure on Israel, particularly between Syria and the Palestinians. "Damascus favors a suspension of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to get Israel to conform to resolution 242 on the withdrawal from all territories occupied in 1967," an Arab diplomat said on condition of anonymity. He said: "Damascus upheld this position during the meeting of the Al-Quds [Jerusalem] committee" of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). In a statement after its meeting in Rabat Monday, it affirmed its rejection of any limiting of Palestinian sovereignty in Jerusalem, while calling for negotiations to continue with Israel. Syria's ambassador to Cairo, Majed Saleh, said "the statement of the Al-Quds committee is put in a very diplomatic way, particularly concerning the peace process, but it reaffirms the necessity of applying resolution 242 and that is our position." Asked whether Syria would propose suspending negotiations during the League's meeting, he said: "During Arab meetings there are always propositions, but I can say nothing in advance." A toughening of the Arab position going as far as a suspension of negotiations seems unlikely however in so far as the majority of the 22 members of the Arab League are in favor of them going on, and Egypt, the biggest Arab country, is directly involved in mediation to reconcile Palestinian and Israeli demands. Showing the interest that the Vatican has in the question of Jerusalem, it asked to take part in the Arab League meeting as an observer, and will be represented by the papal nuncio in Cairo, Msgr Paolo Giglio. The Vatican wants the future status of Jerusalem to carry international guarantees to preserve the sacred character of the sanctuaries of the three monotheistic religions. |
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