By Stan Goodenough
Sep 06, 2006
Foreign ministers representing the 22 Arab states ? all of which remain united in their determination to purge Israel from the Middle East ? met in Cairo Wednesday for a strategy session aimed at reviving the ?peace process? they believe will help to facilitate their goal.
Laying a smokescreen, the ministers said they had gathered out of concern that Iran and the terror groups it supports had substantially expanded their influence in the region as a result of Israel?s recent conflict with Hizb?allah.
The real aim of the Arab League meeting, however, was to resuscitate the formula for negotiations that had led to the 1991 International Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid.
Invited to Madrid were Israel, all the countries bordering the Jewish state ? Lebanon, Syria and Jordan ? as well as the Palestinian Arabs.
That conference launched the so-called land-for-peace process that resulted directly in the deaths of hundreds of Israelis, the injuring of thousands, deepening internecine strife among Israeli Jews, the creation of thousands of Jewish refugees, the parceling out of some of Israel?s most sacred land, and a serious erosion of Israel?s deterrence in the face of unrelenting Arab hostility and aggression.
For their part, the Arab world has been richly rewarded by the ?peace process.? As was the case in the Israel-Egypt negotiations that preceded Madrid and the Oslo Agreement, the Arab sides have seen Israel make painful, possibly irreversible and potentially lethal concessions in exchange for promises on paper.
The Arab League meeting Wednesday was aimed at perpetuating this ? for them ? promising state of affairs.
According to an Associated Press report, the Arabs want another international conference ? this time under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council and not the USA, the chief sponsor at Madrid ? which will kick off direct negotiations between Israel and Syria, Israel and Lebanon, and Israel and the Palestinian Arabs.
The League?s goals for this conference ? which they are calling to be convened before the end of this year ? are the establishment of a Palestinian state on Jewish lands, Israel?s relinquishing of its Golan Heights to Syria, and some kind of arrangement with Lebanon after this summer?s war on Hizb?allah.
Each of these goals is meant to strengthen the Arab side while further weakening Israel, with the ultimate destruction of the Jewish state the ultimate goal.
While the Security Council has so far not reacted favorably towards the idea of sponsoring such a conference, it has in the past proven unable or unwilling to long resist the demands of the Arab states.