Posted on 04/06/2002 12:17:09 PM PST by GeneD
Filed at 3:52 p.m. ET
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Arab foreign ministers denounced the Bush administration's handling of the Middle East conflict Saturday, saying U.S. bias was allowing Israel to flout international resolutions, terrorize Palestinians and destabilize the region.
They reached no decision on a proposal to cut off oil sales to Israel's allies, but Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said they didn't rule it out.
The emergency meeting of the Arab League was held in Cairo in response to a siege of Palestinian cities, launched by Israel more than a week ago after a wave of Palestinian suicide bombing attacks. It comes ahead of an expected visit to the region next week by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
In a final communique issued Saturday, the league ``affirmed that the biased treatment given to Israel from some countries, particularly the United States, made it (Israel) feel and act as a state above international law and U.N. resolutions.''
``(This) encouraged (Israel) to go too far in its aggressive policies and threaten security and stability in the region and the world,'' the communique said.
The meeting follows a week of daily protests against Israel and the United States, the like of which the Arab world has rarely seen.
Some 15,000 Jordanians marched through the northern city of Irbid Saturday calling for ``holy war'' against Israel and denouncing ``the embarrassing official Arab silence.'' On Friday, Bahraini protesters hurled gasoline bombs at the U.S. Embassy in Manama.
During the meeting, Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath compared Israeli actions in the West Bank towns of Jenin and Nablus to the 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinians by Israeli-allied militiamen in two refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon.
Shaath warned Saturday that if Powell fails to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on his trip next week, he would be boycotted by the Palestinians.
``Powell will not meet a single Palestinian'' if he does not meet Arafat, Shaath said.
The Palestinian Authority was angered by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's refusal to meet Arafat during his recent visit to the region. U.S. officials said Friday that Powell had no plans for such a meeting.
On Friday, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei joined Iraq in urging Islamic countries to stop supplying oil to countries closely relations with Israel.
Two other oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have spoken out against the idea.
When asked about the proposal, Moussa said Arab ministers did not rule out adopting any measures later ``in view of the deterioration or improvement of the situation.''
Arab ministers also called for a freeze on new relations with Israel and movement toward an economic boycott of the Jewish state.
The call was largely symbolic, however, as no Arab states were moving toward establishing relations with Israel.
The reference to the boycott also did not clearly call for renewing Arab economic actions against foreign businesses dealing with Israel, a campaign that reached its height in the 1980s.
The Syrian and Lebanese foreign ministers did not attend the meeting. The official Syrian news agency indicated they were protesting Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania's refusal to break relations with Israel.
Translates to who the hell do we want to replace Arafat before Powell shows up here and tries to force his choice down our throats.
First speaker: "Hey they are getting their butts kicked". Secon speaker: "What shall we do".
Third speaker: "Let's pretend that we don't know the pales, and lets get out of here".
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