Israel Opposes Democracy in Palestine:
Abbas questions Israel's belief in democracy
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service, and News Agencies
BRASILIA, Brazil - Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas questioned Israel's belief in democracy on Tuesday after an Israeli official suggested a victory for Hamas militants in Palestinian parliamentary elections could put Israel's pull-out from Gaza at risk.
Abbas criticized a decision by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to postpone the withdrawal from Gaza by three weeks under what he said was the "pretext of religious celebrations in Israel."
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"Worse than that is that his (Sharon's) minister of foreign affairs said that there would be no withdrawal from Gaza nor any other city if the Hamas movement wins the elections," Abbas said in a speech at a summit of South American and Arab leaders in Brazil.
"Here I ask myself. What kind of democracy is this? What democracy do the Israelis believe in?" Abbas asked. Palestinians believed in a democracy which could create the results necessary for lasting peace in the Middle East, he said.
Mubarak: Implement Sharm understandings
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday sent a message to President Moshe Katsav on the occasion of Israel's Independence Day in which he expressed his hopes that the mutual understandings reached at February's summit in Sharm el-Sheikh summit be implemented as quickly as possible.
Mubarak expressed hope that the implementation of the understandings reached by Israeli and Palestinian leaders would bring a just and complete peace and the normalization of relations between nations in the region.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Monday cast doubt on the settlement evacuation plan in light of Hamas' growing political clout, but Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz shot down that suggestion, saying that the withdrawal would go ahead.
South American-Arab summit aims to undercut U.S. influence
Banding together to undercut the international influence of the United States, South American and Arab leaders opened their first summit Tuesday to usher in a new wave of political and economic cooperation.
With 9,000 soldiers posted around the Brazilian capital and military helicopters buzzing overhead, 15 heads of state and top officials from 34 South American, Middle Eastern and North African nations converged for the first Summit of South American-Arab Countries.
"We are facing a historic opportunity to build the foundation for a bridge of solid cooperation between South America and the Arab world," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.
Pushing a policy goal he has pursued since becoming the first elected leftist leader of Latin America's largest country, Silva urged the participants to fight for free-trade rules that help the developing world's masses who live in misery, instead of benefiting only rich countries and multinational corporations.
But the summit lost some of its luster with the absence of some of the strongest voices in the Arab world, including the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. Even Lebanon's president was a no-show.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa had been hoping more leaders would attend, but said the presence of seven of the 22 Arab heads of state was a positive "gauge of the importance of the conference." Eight of the 12 South American leaders were participating.
Moussa denied speculation that the United States had pressured some leaders to boycott the event, which was to issue a declaration at odds with U.S. policy on issues ranging from terrorism to Israel.
Brazilian media widely reported that the United States was refused permission to attend as summit observer, but U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Tuesday he did not know whether the United States ever requested to observe the event.
Despite the summit's anti-American undertones, Casey said the Bush administration welcomes "the idea of dialogue between these two regions" and believes the "example of democratic development was something that could be shared and could be of benefit in discussions between the two regions."
Moussa took pains in his speech to downplay controversial elements of the declaration, saying the summit's main point is to strengthen regional ties.
"This summit, in its idea, its initiative, is not directed against anyone," he said.
Silva, however, singled out for criticism agricultural subsidies that the United States and Europe give their farmers, saying they must be slashed to ensure that "poor countries receive the benefits of globalization."
"We want to take concrete and lasting steps in the struggle for development and social justice," Silva said.
Moussa said the two regions, which have a combined population of more than half a billion people, may lie far apart but share strong cultural links. About 10 million South Americans are of Arab descent.
"More than 600 million people are looking with hope to the summit of hope, the Brasilia summit," he said.
The summit drew the biggest show of security in the Brazilian capital since Silva was sworn into office 2$ years ago.
Two Army tanks were parked in front of the convention center, and soldiers with automatic weapons patrolled in jeeps, trucks and on horseback.
Police confiscated four pistols from security guards protecting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani because they had not filed the proper paperwork to carry weapons.
Public servants got the day off, so the city looked like a ghost town.
Silva initiated the idea for the summit in 2003 with a visit to the Middle East, and the gathering comes at a time when Washington is pressuring Arab nations to relax their mostly authoritarian systems of government.
The leaders were expected to endorse a "Declaration of Brasilia" on Wednesday pledging to tighten political and economic links between the regions.
A draft of the declaration demands that Israel disband settlements in Palestinian territory, including "those in East Jerusalem," and retreat to its borders before the 1967 Mideast war. It also lashes out at U.S. economic sanctions against Syria.
But Moussa, in an interview with the AP, denied the declaration was biased against Israel or the United States, its main ally.
"It's not against Israel," he said. "It's certainly against the occupation by Israel."
The document denounces terrorism, but asserts the right of people "to resist foreign occupation in accordance with the principles of international legality and in compliance with international humanitarian law."
The clause was a clear reference to Israeli and American condemnation of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah. The Simon Wiesenthal Center said "it leaves the door open for terrorists groups to interpret it as a support for their criminal activities."
On the Mideast peace front, the draft supports international efforts, including the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. And on Iraq, it stresses the need to respect the "unity, sovereignty and independence of Iraq and of not interfering in its internal affairs."
In a separate ceremony Tuesday, officials approved an agreement between the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council and Mercosur, a key South American economic bloc, pledging negotiations for a free-trade area linking the two groups.
Mercosur's full-fledged members are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The GCC's members are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar.
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