Arab leaders agree to modest reforms

International Herald Tribune/ NY Times ^ | 5/24/04 | Neil MacFarquhar

[Valin]

TUNIS Arab leaders adopted a modest if unprecedented joint commitment toward political reform at the end of their annual summit meeting on Sunday. Squabbling over the issue, which had delayed the meeting for two months, continued until the very last minute.
Participants and analysts wondered aloud if the document would have any significance, since putting it into effect was left largely up to the individual countries, and past summit meetings were littered with weighty resolutions that went nowhere.
‘‘We are talking about problems that require real change in society — its position toward women, its position toward democracy, the role of civil society,’’ Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian foreign minister, said at the meeting.
‘‘They need a dynamic in order for them to happen and the dynamic is not just monitoring by the Arab League,’’ Shaath said. ‘‘The hope is that when the league approves of this as an Arab policy, this will encourage individual states to follow through with their reform programs.’’

Tunisia, the host of the meeting, said the Arab states needed to be given time to establish credibility on their desire for change. ‘‘We are deadly serious about the implementation of that paper,’’ said the Tunisian foreign minister, Habib Ben Yahya, rejecting the idea that the document on reform was forged by pressure from the outside. ‘‘It is not at the request of anybody; it has been done in a way that is a home-grown process.’’
Although the final document mentioned issues like expanding the role of women, respecting human rights and supporting freedom of expression, it did not detail any specific steps to bring about such change in a region that groups the world’s most autocratic governments. Even a participant described the measures as ‘‘wishy-washy.’’
The reform issue created tension between the region and the United States starting last winter, when the Bush administration let it be known that it would issue a blueprint known as the Greater Middle East Initiative to push democracy, seen as the best antidote to militancy, across the Arab and Muslim world.

The failure to establish a working model in Iraq seriously dented that effort. But Arab leaders have still been toiling to come up with a plan of their own before the Group of 8 summit meeting in the United States in June, when the United States is supposed to present its blueprint.
After objections from Arab leaders that reform cannot be imposed from outside, the plan has since been modified to make it more of a collective effort between Arab leaders and Washington.

The participants said it was something of an accomplishment that the meeting had even taken place, given the dizzying rush of Mideast developments. The level of violence in the region had threatened to overshadow the entire summit meeting.

The final communiqué strongly condemned Israel for attacks in Gaza that have killed about 40 people and the United States for the treatment of the Iraqi prisoners.
On Iraq, the leaders called for a major UN role in rebuilding the Iraqi government and ending the occupation.

Troop involvement rules set

The head of the Arab League said Sunday that Arabs would not send troops to Iraq unless specifically asked by the United Nations Security Council and Iraqis themselves, The Associated Press reported from Tunis.
The Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, was skeptical about any Arab military contribution even under those conditions.
Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, said he believed that it was unlikely that any Arab government would be eager to play a military role in Iraq after the United States handed power to a self-governing body. The change is due on June 30. ‘‘The Arab countries were not part of the war waged on Iraq,’’ said Moussa, a strong opponent of the U.S.-led war against Iraq. ‘‘Anyway, I can’t see participation in the near future.’’

[2banana]

Reform in the Islamic World...

Saudi Arabia - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death. Bibles are illegal. Churches are illegal.

Yemen - Bans proselytizing by non-Muslims and forbids conversions. The Government does not allow the building of new non-Muslim places of worship.

Kuwait - Registration and licensing of religious groups. Members of religions not sanctioned in the Koran may not build places of worship. Prohibits organized religious education for religions other than Islam.

Egypt -Islam is the official state religion and primary source of legislation. Accordingly, religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited. Muslims may face legal problems if they convert to another faith. Requires non-Muslims to obtain what is now a presidential decree to build a place of worship.

Algeria - The law prohibits public assembly for purposes of practicing a faith other than Islam. Non-Islamic proselytizing is illegal, and the Government restricts the importation of non-Islamic literature for distribution.

Jordan - Has the death penalty for any Muslim selling land to a Jew.

[sheik yerbouty]

"What is best in life?" To destroy the jihadists, to drive their leftist enablers before you, and to hear the lamentations of their media!