CAIRO: Arab League Secretary General said early on Friday that Arab countries will not offer Israel “normalization for free during the upcoming US-sponsored Mideast peace conference.
Amr Moussa remarks were made shortly after midnight at the end of an informal gathering of some 11 Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo ahead of a key league meeting to hammer out a unified Arab position on the Annapolis conference.
“There is nothing called a normalization for free, Moussa told reporters at the end of the meeting. “Arabs are going to participate in the (Annapolis) meeting, to show support for the Palestinians, based on the Arab peace initiative, he added.
The ministers are calling for the Arab peace initiative, a proposal offering full peace with Israel for a full withdrawal from all territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war, be a basis for the talks.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat also said that Annapolis meeting will revive the stalled peace process.
“We, as a Palestinian party, have witnessed a seven year frozen political process, Erekat said at the end of the meeting. “Now the question is not whether should we go or not, but the strategic question is how will we go as Arabs?
“We want peace, but it won t be for whatever price, he added and referred to the borders of a Palestinian state, the status of east Jerusalem and the future of millions of Palestinian refugees as preconditions for peace.
Egypt on the other hand doesn’t foresee the possibility of the Israelis and Palestinians agreeing on a joint document before the US-sponsored conference.
From now till the meeting of Annapolis nobody can say if they will reach a shared document or not, President Hosni Mubarak s spokesman Suleiman Awad said after the summit with Jordan s King Abdullah and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas Thursday.
There are two options: either we arrive in Annapolis with a shared document or each side presents its position (at the conference) clearly and vigorously, Awad said.
Serious differences exist between the Israelis and Palestinians over a joint document to be presented at the conference to be held in Annapolis, outside Washington on Nov. 27, even over what the statement should be called.
The Palestinian leadership and other Arab states are looking to tackle the thorniest issues such as the status of east Jerusalem and refugees. Israel instead wants a less detailed document, stating a list of principles on which to base negotiations.
We hope that both sides will agree this document. It will be better if they come to Annapolis with a shared document giving hope for serious negotiations, Awad said. With agencies
