Egypt urges Indonesian support for Arab summit

Egypt urges Indonesian support for Arab summit

JAKARTA (JP): Egyptian Ambassador to Indonesia Mahmoud Osman
called on Indonesia yesterday to give its support for the Arab
summit, which will be held in Cairo this weekend.

"The Moslem world, within which Indonesia is the largest, as
well as the Third World, should exhibit support by way of
reflecting solidarity with the Arab world," Ambassador Osman was
quoted as saying by Antara yesterday.

"The Arab world is an organic entity, inseparable from the
larger scheme of the Third World," he said.

The ambassador held a press conference yesterday to explain
about the Cairo summit which is held to forge Arab solidarity
following the election of Israeli hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu's victory with an election platform hostile to any
peace with Palestinians and Israel's Arab neighbors threatens to
unravel the peace negotiations painfully established by the
previous Labor government.

The Egyptian envoy said one of the summit's objectives is to
strengthen Arab countries' commitment to pursuing the peace
process. "The change of government in Israel should not change
this reality because peace has reached a point of no return.

"Although the Cairo summit reflects primarily the sense of
anxiety about the prospects of the peace process in the Middle
East, it is my view that equal interest and involvement should be
demonstrated by the Islamic world and the Third World," he said.

Any obstacle to the peace process will inevitably have
negative effects, one way or another, on the Islamic world,
especially where the fate of Jerusalem, regarded by Moslems as a
holy site, is concerned, Ambassador Osman said.

He praised Indonesia's firm stand, as recently reiterated by
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas, that Jakarta will not
open diplomatic ties with Israel until after the Palestinian and
Middle East issues are fully resolved. (emb)