Arab states insist normalization with Israel not on the agenda at conference - Haaretz

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Tue., November 27, 2007 Kislev 17, 5768

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Arab states insist normalization with Israel not on the agenda at conference

By Yoav Stern

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said before leaving for Annapolis that the league's decision to send its foreign ministers to the conference does not mean normalizing relations with Israel.

"We will say that there can be no normalization except in the framework of the Arab peace initiative and in the framework of total peace," he said.

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Opponents of the conference claim it constitutes a normalization of relations with Israel without the latter giving anything in return. Hamas' political head, Khaled Meshal, sent a letter in recent days to Arab heads of state and the Arab League calling on them to "boycott" the summit. The London-based Arabic daily paper Al-Hayat reported yesterday that Meshal's letter said it would be "a free concession with nothing in return."

Sixteen Arab states will attend the conference, most of them members of the monitoring committee for the Arab peace initiative. There will also be representatives from many other Muslim countries that have no relations with Israel. However, the conference is expected to encourage only direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians, not the establishment or renewal of relations with Arab countries.

Andre Azoulay, senior adviser to King Mohamed VI of Morocco, told Haaretz yesterday by phone that the summit's purpose in his view is to signal to all the people in the region that it is possible to revive peace efforts. He described himself as "a veteran warrior for peace" and said that the Annapolis summit could end a period of mistrust and gloom.

But Azoulay added that it would be a mistake by Israel to expect steps toward normalization immediately after the conference. "Sometimes Israelis think that merely having Israeli senior officials seated beside Arab senior officials is an Israeli accomplishment. It is blindness to think that Israel will get what it wants that way," he said.

On the non-Arab Muslim countries that will attend Annapolis, Azoulay said: "All of the Muslim countries follow what happens in Palestine, and it is part of their agenda. It is realistic and important that they be present there, also to prevent the extremists from dictating their line."

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