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Arab Dailies Urge Ministers to Break Wall of Silence
AMMAN, Dec. 20 (News Agencies) - Jordanian newspapers on Thursday urged Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to break the wall of silence and adopt clear positions backing Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, news agencies reported.
"Token support is crucial," wrote the English-language Jordan Times, expecting dissension to emerge between the "moderate" camp led by Egypt and Jordan, and countries such as Syria and Iraq.
"Differences remain a healthy sign provided they are triggered by desire to protect the overall interests of the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular," the newspaper said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"Countries like Iraq and Syria ... will denounce what they claim is Arafat's surrender to Israel," it said in reference to the condemnation by Baghdad and Damascus of the Palestinian leader's call for an end to retaliatory operations on Israel and a return to the negotiation table.
"Arabs have, until now, not dropped peace with Israel as their strategic choice and therefore should help Arafat get out of the mess he finds himself in," said the newspaper.
The independent Syrian newspaper, Al-Arab Al-Yawm, likewise made an appeal to the Arab League in an editorial entitled "The Silent Ones."
The paper said that there is an "Arab silence towards all the injustice faced by the Palestinian people."
"That is why we tell the Palestinian President, who is besieged inside the Palestinian territories, not to expect too much from the Arabs," it said.
Meanwhile, the semi-official Jordanian daily newspaper, Al-Dustour, urged the foreign ministers meeting Thursday in Cairo "to make every possible effort to lift the hardships on the Palestinian people".
Al-Dustour said the Arabs should "end the unjust war that has been declared by the governments of generals and rabbis (Israel) on the Palestinian people and help them recover their legitimate rights and security".
On the same note, the state-run Syrian Tishrin daily newspaper on Thursday called on the ministers to adopt a resolution severing all ties between Arab countries and Israel.
"Arab foreign ministers are urged to issue a very clear message to Israel and its government ... by breaking off any kind of relation with Israel, whether political or commercial," the newspaper wrote in an editorial.
"This measure is justified since Israel continues its aggression and refuses the fair and comprehensive peace wanted by Arabs,"
Tishrin said.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said Wednesday that Arab countries would reject the Israeli conception of the Middle East during Thursday's foreign ministers meeting in Cairo.
"The meeting will look for a clear Arab stand, affirming a refusal to comply with Israel's attempts to impose a peace as it wills," Moussa told reporters, AFP reported.
"In the face of Israeli obstinacy, it is time that the Arabs took a strong position," said Abdel Salam Triki, Libya's African affairs minister, on his arrival Wednesday.
"The [U.S.-led] coalition against terrorism also means justice for the Palestinian people."
The meeting in the Egyptian capital is expected to call for a rapprochement between the Palestinians and United States. Arafat and other Palestinian leaders have recently been accused of tilting more and more toward Israel.
The chief of the political department of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Farouk Kaddoumi, will represent Arafat, who will not be able to attend because of restrictions imposed on his movements by Israeli forces.
Israel has restricted Arafat to the West Bank town of Ramallah since December 3.
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