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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (49106)	9/19/2005 3:18:17 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday urged Tel Aviv to allow the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, as this would give Israel security and diplomatic ties with Pakistan. The much-awaited 30-minute presidential address to the American Jewish Congress was greeted with warm applause at many points by a large gathering of American Jewish leaders, diplomats and leaders of the Pakistani-American community. The president told the event that followed an elaborate banquet, “Israel rightly desires security. This will remain incomplete until the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian state is assured. Israel must come to terms with geopolitical realities and allow justice to prevail for the Palestinians.” Musharraf said he saw hope in the Israeli decision to pull out of Gaza. He added that Israel should withdraw from the West Bank as set out in the US-backed “peace road map”. Middle East peace would revive the historic ties between Islam and Judaism, he said. The gathering rose to applaud him when he said, “What better signal for peace could there be than the opening of embassies in Israel by Islamic countries like Pakistan?” He described the Jerusalem issue as “difficult”. “A final settlement should respect the international character of Jerusalem as well as international law and the resolutions of the Security Council,” he said. Musharraf said Pakistan has “no direct conflict or dispute with Israel ... But our people have a deep sense of sympathy for the Palestinian people and their legitimate aspirations for statehood. As the peace process progresses towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, we will take further steps towards normalisation and cooperation, looking to full diplomatic relations.” He pleaded for interfaith harmony, citing various similarities between Jews and Muslims, which outnumbered the few divergences in their faith and culture. According to the Quran, he said, Jews, Christians and Muslims are all people of the Book, belonging to the same spiritual tradition. He called the last six decades in Muslim-Jewish relations an “aberration”. He also recalled the tragedy of the Holocaust and paid tribute to the American Jews who opposed the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Bosnia. He also praised Jewish millionaire George Soros, who had provided legal and other assistance to Muslims singled out for discrimination in the wake of 9/11. Musharraf called terrorism a threat to the stability of modern societies and said it cannot be condoned “for any reason”. This observation was greeted with warm applause. “We should look for deeper causes of this malaise and for the motivations that drive individuals to extreme irrational behaviour to commit acts of terrorism,” he said. Shutting one’s eyes to the root causes of terrorism would be a “sure recipe for failure”. He said events in Kashmir, Afghanistan and Iraq were a cause of concern to the Islamic world. “It is this political and social environment which breeds terrorism and extremism,” he added. Musharraf conceded that most of those involved in terrorist acts today are Muslims, as are the victims. This was evidence of a “deep malaise” within Islamic societies, which had failed to embrace reform, progress and modernity. This had resulted in “economic deprivation and social backwardness”, which were sources of extremism, which in turn bred terrorism. Senator Tom Lantos, who presented President Musharraf with a Congressional Citation, called him a “quintessential Muslim leader” and a “beacon to other Muslim states”. He complimented Musharraf for having braved physical and political danger to come to address the American Jewish Congress. Lantos is the only member of Congress who is a survivor of the Holocaust. In his welcome address, American Jewish Congress president Jack Rosen said the event in New York had taken two years of preparation and singled out Dr Naseem Ashraf, chairman of the National Commission for Human Development, for his contribution in this regard. He called the president’s decision to address the Congress as “an act of individual courage, leadership and vision,” a remark that brought the audience to its feet. He disclosed that Israel has agreed to loosen trade restrictions for imports of Pakistani products.