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U.S. Muslim Leaders Protest Invitation to Israeli Official
DETROIT, June 25 (IslamOnline) -
A group of U.S. Muslim and Arab leaders, protesting the presence of Ehud Olmert, the self-styled mayor of the occupied East Jerusalem, walked out of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, in which President George W. Bush gave a speech, a Washington-based Muslim organization said Monday.
In a statement faxed to IslamOnline, the American Muslim Council, one of the leading Muslim rights advocacy groups in the U.S., said "the appearance of Mr. Olmert, proclaimed mayor of Jerusalem" was "ill advised and provocative."
"Mr. Olmert's presence at this event serves neither the peace process nor our country's national interests," said Aly Abuzaakouk, Executive Director of AMC.
"We urge our administration to show fairness not favoritism and to maintain neutrality and even-handedness in dealing with this delicate and extremely volatile situation."
The organization said Olmert's so-called mayorship under Israeli occupation of Arab and Muslim land extends to the "disputed Western section of the city as well as the occupied Eastern section."
The AMC said this contradicted United Nations Security Council Resolutions. Muslims generally believe said the status of parts of Jerusalem should be settled in line with U.N. resolutions.
"Having Mr. Olmert address the Conference of Mayors is a unilateral action to legitimize the illegal occupation of Jerusalem," the statement said. "It also contradicts President Bush's policy as well as the position of the previous administrations."
Last week, Bush put off for six more months any decision on transferring the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
In a memorandum sent to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, however, Bush said his administration "remains committed to beginning the process of moving our embassy to Jerusalem."
On March 8, Powell infuriated some 1.5 billion Muslims around the world when he told a congressional committee that Bush was committed to moving Washington's "embassy to the capital of Israel, which is Jerusalem."
The holy city is venerated by Muslims and is considered as a capital for a Muslim Palestinian state. The longstanding U.S. policy is that Jerusalem's status must be resolved in negotiations between the two sides.
Shortly before he was sworn in as Israeli Prime Minister, the ultra-rightist Ariel Sharon asserted that the city was "the eternal capital of the Jewish people."
U.S. Congress had passed a bill in 1995 aimed at moving the embassy to Jerusalem, but the then president, Bill Clinton, repeatedly made use of an escape clause in the measure allowing him to postpone the move on the grounds of national security.
Muslims say that the U.S. Congress is under the influence of a strong pro-Israel lobby in Washington that made American politicians disregard the fact that Jerusalem is considered by U.N. resolutions an occupied land.
Israel annexed West Jerusalem in 1948 after it started its first war with Arab countries. In 1967 Israel took East Jerusalem after its military initiative against Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
Most countries do not recognize Israel's annexation of Muslim East Jerusalem, captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war.
In 1948 Israel, with the help of the then colonial powers in the region, came into existence in the heart of the Muslim world after it forced 800,000 Palestinians from their land and destroyed over 400 villages. This started what is now called "the Middle East conflict."
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