AMMAN, 11 February — The Arab summit follow-up committee opened a two-day meeting in Amman yesterday to discuss steps taken to implement Arab leaders' resolutions late last year to support Palestinians. The committee, made up of foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Bahrain and the Palestinian Authority is entrusted with seeing that policies adopted by Arab leaders in support of the Palestinian people are implemented.
Arab leaders, at an emergency summit in Cairo four months ago, pledged to support the Palestinians both politically and economically. They promised a billion dollars in support for the Palestinian intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation, but Palestinians say that only four million were received so far. This issue along with the election last Tuesday of militant Ariel Sharon as Israeli prime minister will rank high in the talks, to conclude today.
On Sharon's declared hard-line policy toward peace with the Palestinians, Arab League chief Esmat Abdul-Meguid told reporters here: "We are watching carefully Sharon's actions, and if this direction which we know and read persists, we will be on the brink of disaster in the region."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said that "Sharon's extremism is well-known and his history proves it, but he was elected as prime minister and that entails important responsibilities... If he continues his extremism, then the situation will be dangerous and that will definitely evoke a reaction."
The meeting comes on the heels of fears triggered in Arab capitals following Sharon's election and precedes another Arab summit set to take place in Amman in the last week of March. Arab leaders have said they will judge Sharon by his "actions for peace" but many worry that the man considered by most a war criminal will steer the troubled Middle East away from a comprehensive peace settlement. "Sharon's arrival to power and its repercussion on the peace process will be the focus of discussions over the next two days," the Palestinian Ambassador in Amman, Omar Khatib, told AFP.
In Gaza City, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said yesterday he would wait some time before reacting to the new US position following its disassociation with the peace plans of former President Bill Clinton. "We must wait and see what comes," Arafat told reporters. The Bush administration has said it is no longer bound by a last-minute peace plan drafted by Clinton, which was accepted in principle by Arafat and ousted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak but failed to yield an agreement.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat voiced sharp criticism yesterday of Sharon and his ideas for resolving the Mideast conflict. "If he tells me he doesn't want to talk about Jerusalem and wants to keep 58 percent of the West Bank, then maybe we will see each other in the next life," Erekat told Radio Israel.
Meanwhile, at least five Palestinians were wounded, some seriously, in continuing demonstrations and firing by Israeli soldiers. Thousands of people attended the funeral of a 16-year-old goatherd killed by Israelis on Friday in Gaza. He died after several days of relative calm under as yet unclear circumstances. Violent protests were reported from Hebron.
For the second night in a row, Israeli shelling hit the offices of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper in Ramallah, its editor and publisher Hafez Barghouti said yesterday. The shelling, from Psagot settlement overlooking Ramallah and its twin city Al-Bireh, broke almost every window and threatened some 20 night shift staff, prompting Barghouti to begin relocating them.
Also yesterday, the United States and the United Nations both warned that the Israeli Army's continuing closure of the Palestinian territories will lead to a complete collapse of the Palestinian economy and government structures within three months. The Internet page of the daily Haaretz said Washington had called on the government to transfer money it owes to the Palestinians.
