Mahathir delivers a speech at the opening of the Non-Aligned Movement Business Forum

By Kazi Mahmood, IOL South East Asia Correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, February 23 (IslamOnline.net) - The 13th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit currently taking place in Kuala Lumpur has reached consensus on two major issues that is affecting the world scene, the protracted U.S. war on Iraq and the Israeli aggression in Palestine.

To the satisfaction of the anti-war lobby within the movement and world wide, the Foreign Ministers meeting during the NAM summit has also reached an agreement Saturday, February 22, on the draft of a much-awaited statement on Iraq.

"We have agreed on the statement on Iraq," Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told a media conference at the Putra World Trade Center (PWTC) where the summit is being held, reported Bernama news agency.

"The only thing that is left is the Final Document. On the Final Document we are continuing the discussion, we have got almost one paragraph left and it involves the question of disarmament," he said.

The content of the statement to be released on the last day of the NAM summit on February 25th was not revealed to the press though it was clear that the movement would call on Iraq to continue abiding to the U.N.’s resolutions in order to ensure peace.

Resolution 1441 adopted by the Security Council on Nov 8 last year, assures the world that weapons of mass destruction are eliminated from Iraq in a peaceful way.

The NAM would advise Iraq to continue to comply with the resolution allowing the unconditional return of U.N. arm inspectors. It is believed at the PWTC that this draft proposal will pave the way for resolving the Iraq issue.

Iraq has lobbied for the NAM to pressure for a lifting of the inhuman sanctions that has killed millions of innocent civilians, including children in this once health hazardless country.

There are no indication however that the NAM will call for the lifting of the sanctions, despite the fact that the debate at the summit is now focusing on the respect of Iraq’s sovereignty, political independence and integrity.

Anti-war supporters in Malaysia have urged the NAM summit leaders to take a clear stance on issues such as Iraq and Palestine. The movement however showed deep split on where the movement should stand on Iraq in particular.

Observers in Kuala Lumpur said the NAM faced critical moments with India and other major member countries insisting the movement would lose its integrity if it adopted resolutions that would show its alignment against the U.S. or any other blocks in the world.

“It is crucial for the NAM to be effective, to do so it has to take strong measures against world domination, yet it has not reached a final statement on Iraq for fear of ‘offending’ the U.S., which is a major strategic partner to many of the non-aligned member countries,” Reza Mohamad, who is a political science lecturer in an Indonesian university said.

Palestine Declaration

In a major boost in favor of the Palestinian struggle the NAM said it will continue to pressure the United Nations (U.N.) to establish a peacekeeping force to put an end to the ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel.

Malaysia’s Albar said the U.N. should take a more meaningful action including setting up the peacekeeping force so that both sides could negotiate to resolve the escalating violence.

"Whether this is accepted or not, that's another matter. We see that the Palestinian people face a lot of problems because every action to be taken against the Israelis, the U.N. will ask Israel first whether they agree or otherwise," he told reporters on Sunday 23rd.

Albar, better known as Syed Hamid said Malaysia, which did not understand the different treatment accorded to Palestine and Israel, wants the U.N. to be directly involved to resolve the West Asian crisis.

The NAM ministerial committee tasked with preparing a special statement on Palestine said the draft of the document was ready to be submitted to NAM leaders at their summit Monday and Tuesday.

Albar said the meeting, comprising 10 foreign ministers of NAM member countries, among others, moved a resolution to condemn the violence and brutality inflicted by Israelis on Palestinians.

The NAM, largely united on the Palestinian issue wanted the international community, including the United States, to take more concrete actions to end the conflict.

Malaysia want the world not to merely pass resolutions and motions without solid action while Israel is left unchecked and free to act in its path towards the destruction of lives in Palestine.

The Palestinian issue gave a boost to the NAM leaders who showed consensus even on the number of troops to be sent and which countries would send the troops to join a possible U.N. peacekeeping force.

On Tuesday, the NAM will urge the U.N., Israel and the Palestinians to go back to the negotiation table so that the stalled peace talks restarts.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Foreign Minister Farouk Kaddumi said NAM should do its best to initiate actions and not just pass resolutions to see to it that the Palestinian people were protected and the Israelis moved out of the Occupied Territories.

On the other hand, officials at the NAM summit hinted that the leaders would favor the establishment in West Asia of a “weapons of mass destruction-free zone” which would include Israel.

The officials believed NAM would strongly oppose a war on Iraq on the belief that it would destabilize the whole West Asian region and damaging to the political, economic and humanitarian wellbeing of all countries in the world, particularly the states in the region.