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April 21, 2006 |
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ARAB AND INTERNATIONAL MOVES TO STOP THE DETERIORATION IN THE PALESTINIAN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES. SAUDI ARABIA AT THE UNSC: THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE'S ORDEAL IS AN EMBODIMENT OF ISRAEL'S REJECTION TO IMPLEMENT INTERNATIONAL RESOLUTIONS. ISRAEL CONTINUES ITS AGGRESSIONS AND DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN THE PALESTINIAN FACTIONS FOR A UNIFIED STAND. THE FOURTH OIC CONFERENCE CONDEMNS THE ISRAELI PRACTICES. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz held talks at his farm in Al Janadriya on the outskirts of Riyadh with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister and Governor of Dubai At the outset of the meeting, Al Maktoum conveyed to the Monarch the greetings of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zaid Al Nahayan, President of the United Arab Emirates. On his turn, the king sent his greetings to Sheikh Khalifa Al Nahayan. They discussed the situations and developments at the Gulf, Arab, Islamic and international arenas in addition to aspects of cooperation between the two countries and ways of enhancing them in all fields in the benefit of the two countries and peoples. On the Saudi side, the audience was attended by Prince Mishaal Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, several princes, and senior officials On the UAE side, it was attended by Sheikh Al Maktoum's accompanying delegation and UAE ambassador-designate to the Kingdom Al'asri Saeed Al-dh-ahiri. Honoring his UAE senior guest, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz decorated Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister and Governor of Dubai, with King Abdul Aziz decoration. The audience, which took place at King Abdullah's farm in Al Janadriya on the outskirts of Riyadh, was attended by Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, Prince Mishaal Ibn Abdul Aziz;, several princes and senior officials. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz received at his farm in Al Janadriya Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister and Governor of Dubai and accompanying delegation. Shiekh Al Maktoum thanked the king for the warm welcome and generous hospitality accorded to him and to the accompanying delegation. Later, King Abdullah held a dinner party in honor of his UAE senior guest and his accompanying delegation. The audience was attended by Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, Prince Mishaal Ibn Abdul Aziz; several princes and senior officials. Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoom, Vice President of United Arab Emirates, Premier and Governor of Dubai, arrived had arrived in the Kingdom. At the airport, he was received by Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, The Deputy Premier, Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General, other princes and senior officials. Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoom, Vice President of United Arab Emirates, Premier and Governor Of Dubai, said his visit to Saudi Arabia aims at boosting relations between the two countries. In a statement to Saudi Press Agency, he added that the visit will bolster bilateral investments in various fields. Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Premier, Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General, hosted a luncheon in honour of Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoom, Vice President of United Arab Emirates, Premier and Governor of Dubai, and the accompanying delegation. The luncheon was attended by a number of princes, ministers and senior officials. Prince Mit'eb Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Assistant Deputy Commander of The National Guard For Military Affairs, hosted a luncheon in honour of Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoom, Vice President of United Arab Emirates, Premier and Governor of Dubai, and the accompanying delegation. The luncheon was attended by a number of princes, and senior officials. Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoom, Vice President of United Arab Emirates, Premier and Governor of Dubai, and accompanying delegation left after a visit to the Kingdom. At the airport, he was seen off by Prince Miqren Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Chief of General Intelligence, princes, senior officials, UAE Ambassador-designate to the kingdom Al'asri Ahmed Al-Dhahiri and a representative of the royal protocol. Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoom, who left Riyadh following a visit to the kingdom, thanked the Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz for the warm welcome and generous hospitality accorded to him and the accompanying delegation during their stay in the Kingdom. Following his departure, Sheikh Al Maktoum dispatched the cable to the Monarch, wishing him continuous health and happiness and the Saudi people steady progress and prosperity. Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoom, Vice President of United Arab Emirates, Premier and Governor of Dubai, who left Riyadh following a visit to the Kingdom, thanked Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier, Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General, for the warm welcome and generous hospitality accorded to him and the accompanying delegation during their stay in the Kingdom. In a cable he dispatched to Crown Prince Sultan, Sheikh Al Maktoum lauded the achievements accomplished in the kingdom and the prudent instructions of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, wishing the Saudi people every progress and prosperity. On the other hand with reference to the statement issued on 29/2/1427 H. whose second paragraph mentioned the security consequences of the attack on the industrial plants in Ab-Gaig province on 25/1/1427 H. and the subsequent storming by security forces of the rest house in Al Yarmook neighborhood on 28/1/1427 H. in which members of the cell which carried out that attack were killed, an official source at the Ministry of Interior said the security follow-up of those consequences until this date resulted in the arrest of another five people in addition to those reported before. Those arrested were directly linked to members of the cell. Machine guns and ammunition were seized with one of the arrested. In the same context, the security follow-up resulted in the discovery of one of their hiding places on 15/3/1427 h. the hiding place is a warehouse located in Al Sulay neighborhood. In the hiding place, the following items were seized: - 123 bags of explosive mixtures weighing more than one and a half tons. - three cars. - 16 hand guns. - 5 machine guns. - 3 rifles. - assorted ammunitions. - communications sets. - cameras and documentation sets. - a computer. - 2 video cameras. - large amount of videotaped material. - forged car plates. In addition, items seized included large amounts of documents, films exposing the true intentions of those who offended their religion and homeland and made themselves tools of destruction in the hands of the enemies of this country. They made explosives using different tools, supplied the two cars which were used in the attack with large amounts of explosive mixtures, wired them with explosive cables and transported them by land routes using navigation sets to the intended location, Ab-Gaig industrial plants, where they carried out their crime after killing two security men. They did so just to kill innocent people and destroy the country's assets and its people's source of living. They based their deed on their distorted thinking of labelling Muslims as infidels and making their killing and theft of their money as legal claiming that this is part of Jihad (Holy War.) Their evil was stopped and they faced their just end. Security measures are still going. In New York the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has confirmed that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, Syrian Golan heights and Lebanon's Shabaa farms constitutes a flagrant violation of the international law and contradicts the principles of the peace process which started in Madrid in 1991. Addressing the United Nations Security Council special session designed to discuss the Palestinian issue, Fawzi bin Abdul Majeed Shobokshi, Saudi Arabia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said the sufferings of the Palestinian people continue to constitute a disastrous situation. He said using violence and extremism became the main practice of the parties directly engaged in the Palestinian Israeli dispute, dashing away calls by peace-loving parties. He pointed out that the continuation of Israeli occupation and its dodgery towards its international commitments and its excessive use of unbalanced force together push the Palestinians to commit suicide operations. He said Israel believes that force and not right and justice would decide the struggle between Israel on one hand and the Arabs and the Palestinians on the other. The Saudi ambassador said the failure of the world community to coerce Israel to succumb to the international will has encouraged it to derail the peace process, subvert negotiations, annex new territories and change the demography of the occupied lands. He said Israel is continuing to reject the implementation of all relevant UN resolutions due to the dual-standard policy of the world community and Israel's false call that it has not found a peace partner among the Palestinians. He underlined the fact that Israel doesn't like any solution but always seeks false arguments to prolong its occupation of the territories of others and deprive the Palestinian people from their rights. Israel is actually morally killing, politically destroying and economically choking to death any peace partner, he said. He said Israel is unequivocally working for dissolving the Palestinian issue and drawing the map of the Hebrew state in which the Palestinians would be forced to commit suicide operations and upset acts and then accuse them of being terrorists. He said Saudi Arabia calls on all regional and international forces, led by the quartet, to work firmly for peace and stability in the Middle East and work for the implementation of the Arab peace initiative which guarantees comprehensive peace for Israel against its full withdrawal from all pre-1967 border Arab territories, setting up the Palestinian state with Al Quds as its capital and finding a fair solution for the Palestinian refugees problem. He said this will be achieved through the implementation of the road map and resumption of negotiations on all tracks according to Madrid reference, principle of land for peace and relevant international legitimacy resolutions. The United States strongly opposed the issuance of a statement by the UN Security Council dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying it was not balanced and was critical of Israel, diplomats said, according to DPA. "It was one against 14, and it was unfair to the Palestinian people," a Palestinian diplomat said after the 15-nation council broke up a day-long close-door discussion on the draft that was prepared by Qatar. The draft was shelved unless Arab states would demand new rounds of discussion next week, the diplomats said. The council meeting, requested by the League of Arab Sates on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA), was to discuss the continued deadly daily clashes that the PA said had inflicted 3,821 Palestinian deaths since the intifada was launched against Israel in 2000. In Cairo the permanent representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Arab League Ahmed Abdul Aziz Qattan stressed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pays its utmost care to the Palestinian issue. He said the Kingdom is working for the establishment of the Palestinian state with Al Quds as its capital. In a press statement the Ambassador said the amounts paid to the Palestinian people through the Saudi Fund for Development is as follows: First: a donation from the Saudi government to the amount of $ 300 million to finance a number of projects. Second: the share of the Kingdom in Al Aqsa fund with $ 271 million. Third: the support provided from the Kingdom to the PA with an amount of $4, 388. Fourth: a donation from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz to the Palestinian people to the amount of $ 6 million. Fifth: the total amounts offered reached $ 87,31 million in addition to the amounts paid through the Arab League to support the Palestinian budget and both Al Aqsa and Al Quds funds. The Ambassador went on to say the Kingdom has offered aid to the Palestinian people since the era of the founder of the Kingdom King Abdul Aziz Al Saud God Bless his soul, adding that the Kingdom is offering places to Palestinian students to study in technical colleges and at Prince Sultan Faculty for Tourism and management along with sponsorships. In Riyadh Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister, received Mahmoud Al-Zahar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian National Authority. During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations between the two countries and exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest. The meeting was attended by senior officials. In Cairo a private Egyptian-French summit meeting took place yesterday between President Mubarak and French President Jacques Chirac. The two leaders were later joined by their delegations. Talks tackled the latest developments in the Middle East peace process and ways of improving Palestinian living conditions. The talks also touched upon the latest developments on the Lebanese-Syrian scene, the implementation of relevant United Nations (UN) resolutions, the Iranian nuclear file, the situation in Iraq, along with the situation in the Western Sudanese region of Darfur. The two leaders also took up means of boosting bilateral ties. In Oman Sultan Qaboos bin Said has received a written message from King Juan Carlos of Spain. The message was handed over to Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, deputy prime minister for the Council of Ministers, when he received Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spanish foreign minister and envoy of the Spanish monarch, and his accompanying delegation. The guest conveyed the greetings and the best wishes of the Spanish monarch to the Sultan and the Omani government and people. Conversation during the meeting dealt with bilateral relations and ways of enhancing aspects of cooperation between the two countries and regional and international issues. Meantime a Palestinian blew himself up outside a sandwich shop in Tel Aviv, killing nine people and injuring dozens. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack while Hamas, which runs the new Palestinian government, called it an act of "self-defense". The Israeli government of Ehud Olmert said it held the Palestinian Authority responsible for the bombing. An Arab television station aired a videotape showing a man from Islamic Jihad claiming he carried out the attack. "We tell the criminal enemy that there are more martyrdom-seekers, God willing," said Sami Salim Hamad, 18, from near Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Family members said Hamad worked as a waiter in Jenin and told his employer on Sunday he would not be coming back to work. Witnesses said they saw him just before the attack. "I saw a young guy, who was carrying a blue bag. He was stopped by a security guard who asked what was in the bag. He opened the bag and everything went up in the air," witness Moussa Al-Zedad told Reuters Television at the scene. Hamad said in his farewell video that he carried out the bombing as a gesture for thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Yesterday was marked in the Palestinian areas as Prisoners Day. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned a suspected suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. In a statement issued by his office, Abbas said the bombing ran counter to Palestinian interests and urged the quartet of major mediating powers to intervene "to stop the grave deterioration that the region is witnessing now." Hamas official spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the attack "a natural result of the continued Israeli crimes against our people." "The Israeli occupation bears responsibility for the continuation of its aggression. Our people are in a state of self-defence and they have every right to use all means to defend themselves," he was quoted as saying by Reuters. Israel decided to revoke the Jerusalem residency rights of three Hamas lawmakers. The Israeli move was in response to Monday's Tel Aviv bombing that killed nine people. The bombing was carried out by Islamic Jihad, but Hamas, which runs the new Palestinian government, defended the attack as a justified response to Israeli military strikes. Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and key Cabinet ministers decided to hold Hamas responsible for the attack. In one of a list of measures, all Hamas lawmakers who live in Jerusalem will have their residency rights in the city revoked. Three Hamas lawmakers have Jerusalem residence permits. Meantime Palestinian sources unveiled that secret talks are being held between Palestinian factions. Hamas held talks with rival factions to try to persuade them to join a Palestinian government which the militant group said was facing a "state of crisis" because of Western pressure. Hamas, which won January's parliamentary election and formed a government last month that included a scattering of independents, said it held discussions with 12 rival factions. "There is a state of crisis and a state of siege. There is no place for any party to sit in the audience," Ghazi Hamad, a government spokesman, said after Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met the factions. In Istanbul, the Parliamentary Union of Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) member states concluded its fourth session. The delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the session was led by Chairman of Shoura (consultative) Council Dr Saleh Ibn Abdullah Ibn Homeid. Istanbul declaration, the union expressed its support for the current reforms in member states, stressing that the process of a reform should keep abreast of values and national policies of each member to strengthen freedom and prosperity in the Muslim world. The statement condemned attributing violence to Islam. It called on the world community to take necessary steps to promote dialogue, understanding and mutual respect among civilizations various cultures and religions. The union pointed out that terrorism continuously threatens world peace, security and stability; it is unjustifiable; and it has nothing to do with a certain religion, race or nationality. OIC Parliamentarians denounced the EU and the US declared threats to cut aids and help to the Palestinian people and their democratically elected authority asserting "these threats pose as a collective punishment for the Palestinian people due to their democratic choice and constitute a torpedo to bases and principals that democracy is based on." The communiqué called the Arab and Islamic governments and peoples as well as all world freemen "to support the Palestinian people and their national authority in a moral and tangible way as well as in the political and media domains in addition to compensate for what has been stopped of aids and help as soon as possible." The conference renewed solidarity of the Organization of Islamic Conference states with the Palestinian people in their struggle to restore principled and legitimate rights of self-determination and the right to return Palestinian refugees as well as to compensate and release captives and detainees in the Israeli occupation jails and the building of the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital together with dealing with prisoners according to Geneva 4th charter The communiqué urged the UNSC to take procedures capable of halting the nonstop Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people and their government that embodied in killings and assassinations as well as the Palestinian infrastructure and the Palestinian capabilities destruction and the continuity of arrest campaigns and aggressive practices against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The conference denounced Israel's non-stop of settlements expansion, Jerusalem besieging, bids to Judaism against it, continuing the Palestinian people besiegement and halting to pay the deserved money for the Palestinian government. The fourth conference for parliamentary councils of member states to the Organization of Islamic Conference OIC said the continuity of the Israeli occupation to occupied Syrian Golan and the Palestinian territories as well as Lebanese Shebaa farms constitutes the essence of the problem that leads to carry on conflict in the Middle East. In a final communiqué called Istanbul Declaration at the end of three-day meetings, the conference called the international community to work as to establish just and comprehensive peace on the basis of relevant international resolutions and the singed agreements as well as the Arab Peace Initiative ratified by the summit of Beirut and the land for peace principal. The communiqué condemned Israel's continuity of occupying the Lebanese Shebaa farms and what remained of Lebanese territories and not handing over Israel maps of mines that are threatening the Lebanese people security asserting the Lebanese resistance right to quest for the liberation of the occupied parts of the Lebanese territories and her right to confront any aggression targeting Lebanon rejecting the daily Israeli military violations of Lebanon's sovereignty. The conference renewed commitment to the Iraq's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and safety calling all Iraqi groups to cooperate as to fulfill the Iraqi people's hopes. The meeting supported all regional and international initiatives to achieve Iraq's stability and security and his national concordance in addition to support the Arab league and neighboring countries to exert more efforts as to achieve this goal. It renewed condemnation of the inhuman and terror attacks that are launched against houses of worshipping in Iraq and aimed at enflaming tensions and sectarian conflicts. The communiqué renewed denunciation of terrorism that constitutes a non-stop threat to the world security; peace and stability underlining the need to differentiate between the peoples' legitimate right to resist the aggression or the foreign occupation and the criminal terror actions. It admitted every state right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology renewing calls to the UNSC and the IAEA to declare the Middle East region free from all weapons of mass destruction WMD mainly the nuclear weapons warning against the WMD spreading due to what such like move would pose as a dangerous threat against the world and regional security. The communiqué denounced Israel's non-joining to the Nuclear Weapons Non Proliferation Treaty NPT or extending guarantees to monitor its nuclear buildings as well as its refusal to declare the Middle East free of nuclear weapons. |
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