IPU adopts resolution on Middle East crisis

JAKARTA (JP): The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference voted on Thursday in favor of passing a resolution deploring the violence shaking the Middle East, but stopped short of condemning Israel.

The resolution was passed in a plenary session with 987 votes in support of it and 61 against.

Another 131 abstained from voting on the resolution on "bringing an end to the tension and violence in the Middle East and protecting civilians and actions to save the peace process".

The resolution, which was proposed by Algeria, Morocco and Indonesia, had been a thorny issue during the drafting commission debates, particularly on whether or not to directly condemn Israel.

The final text of the resolution "condemns all acts of provocation that threaten the peace process and international efforts to establish a just and comprehensive peace".

It also "deeply deplores the tragic events that have taken place in Palestinian territories ... since the provocative visit of Mr. Ariel Sharon to Al-Haram Al-Sharif in Jerusalem".

Before the vote, the South African delegation protested against the committee for not disclosing the details of the draft of the resolution in sufficient time before the vote.

"We just knew about the resolution draft. Such a resolution should be balanced," South African delegate remarked.

The resolution was drafted by a committee consisting of representatives from Indonesia, Morocco, Algeria, France, Germany, Russia, Mali, Uruguay, Guatemala, Thailand, Nigeria and El Salvador.

Indonesian delegation deputy chairman Joko Susilo admitted that it was a compromise resolution since it was initially rejected by Germany in the commission.

"But we are happy that it was finally approved by the conference," Joko of the National Mandate Party (PAN) remarked.

Canada, Slovak and Guatemala were among countries which fully rejected the resolution during the final vote while Germany finally supported it.

Estonian delegate Mart Nutt said many delegations which either supported or abstained were not really concerned with the Israel and Palestine issue as it did not directly relate to their countries.

"Neither Israel nor Palestine are closely related with us. It's not our issue," Nutt remarked.

Six of the 11 Estonian delegates supported the resolution while the rest abstained.

The number of votes of each delegation differed. Each country had 10 basic votes plus additional ones according to population.

India and China had the highest with 23 votes each while Indonesia had 22 votes.

On the sidelines of the meeting, a member of the IPU's human rights committee, Juan Pablo Letelier, said he would propose that the planned resolution on rights abuses against elected parliamentarians also refer to the plight of parliamentarians in Myanmar.

"The Myanmar case is a basic concern of the committee among other abuses against MPs in the world," Letelier from Chile remarked.

He said he personally would try to have the Myanmar case explicitly mentioned in the resolution, which would be issued on the closing day of the conference on Friday.

"The MPs who were democratically elected should be released and returned their rights as MPs," Letelier said. (jun)