Shara tells UN to target Israeli 'terrorism' first
By Melissa Radler ----- or more Arab lies and propaganda --- make lies and demands as outrageous as possible
UNITED NATIONS (November 15) - Israel's
treatment of the Palestinians took center stage
at the General Assembly's annual debate this
week, as Arab and Muslim leaders justified
terrorism against Israelis and called for the
international effort against terror to include
measures against Israel.
The debate, at which world leaders and
foreign ministers typically address issues such
as poverty, hunger, the economy, and AIDS,
this year focused on terrorism due to the
September 11 attacks on New York and
Washington - which caused postponement of
the debate by seven weeks- and the US-led
campaign in Afghanistan.
"Anyone who would like to target terrorism in
our region must target the Israeli terrorism
first and foremost, because what Israel does is
the utmost form of terrorism that is absolutely
shorn of human feeling," said Syria's Foreign
Minister Farouk Shara, whose country was
recently elected to serve on the UN's
15-member Security Council.
Shara said that Israel's "religious basis" and
"terrorist organizations," including the
pre-1948 Lehi and Irgun Zva'i Leumi, have
"sown the seeds of terrorism and fear in
Palestine and outside it."
As for the decision by the US government to
freeze the assets of some Damascus-based and
Syrian-sponsored terrorist groups, including
Hizbullah, Hamas, and the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine, Shara said that
Syria should be praised rather than criticized
"for hosting about half a million Palestinians
and offering them work, security, and a
dignified life" until they return to Israel. He
also praised Hizbullah for "defeating the
Israeli occupying forces" in May, 2000, and
backed Hizbullah's contention that Israel is
still occupying part of Lebanon.
Shara praised world leaders for calling Islam
a religion of peace, but accused the American
public of harboring hatred toward Arabs and
Muslims. In thinly-veiled language referring to
Jewish and Israeli influence, he said the hatred
was caused by "tens of thousands of
publications, articles, and films for the last 50
years."
Calling Israel the "founder and primary source
of terrorism," Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji
Sabri, criticized continuing US and British
sanctions against Iraq.
Sabri compared US action in Afghanistan with
Israeli action in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
and called for a halt to both. Israel's
"systematic terrorism demands a reaction on
the part of the international community that is
commensurate with the gravity of these
genocidal practices against a whole people,"
he said. Israel's 1981 raid and destruction of
Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor was condemned
as an act of terrorism.
Bearing greetings from Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein, who some US legislators have said is
the next target in the war on terrorism, Sabri
said that Iraq launched on initiative on Oct 29
to rid the world of weapons of mass
destruction, which he said are stockpiled by
the US and "the Zionist entity."
In a speech by Egypt's UN representative,
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, he recommended a
four-step peace plan to solve the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: that Israel return
to the borders of June 4, 1967; declare
Jerusalem the capital of Palestine; hand over
all air, water, and land usage to the
Palestinians and solve the refugee problem;
and that Israel's nuclear arsenal be taken
away.
One of the few Arab leaders to mention
Israel's security concerns was the Foreign
Minister of Jordan, Abdel-Elah Khatib, who
on Monday called for "the fulfillment of the
national rights of the Palestinian people and
the establishment of their viable independent
state on their homeland as well as
guaranteeing the security of Israel."
Khatib also urged that Jerusalem, which he
proposed should become the capital of
Palestine, be declared an open city with
freedom of worship for people of all
religions. |
