For Arabs, this year's UN General Assembly is more about remaining on the agenda than scoring diplomatic goals, Dina Ezzat reports In his final speech before the UN General Assembly (UNGA), US President George W Bush, whose entry to the White House eight years ago was hailed with Arab optimism, offered the Arab world and its lingering causes nothing but scorn. Leading the UNGA session Tuesday, Bush alleged that Syria and Iran continue to sponsor terrorism, said little about his now empty promise to see an independent Palestinian state established before the end of 2008, and gave only a cursory nod to Iraq, whose misfortunes result from Bush's decision to wage war on it. Bush's speech to the UN, one Arab diplomat speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly from New York said, was a painful reminder of the inattention Arabs secured for their legitimate causes. The emphasis Bush put on Syria, the same diplomat added, shows that the focus of US attention in the region now, "and possibly for the next few years," is Iran, not the Arab-Israeli struggle. With three Arab leaders, the Arab League's secretary-general, and some 20 Arab foreign ministers in attendance, Arab presence in the corridors of the UNGA was conspicuous. Effective or not is another matter, some Arab diplomats admit. The criterion by which to judge this effectiveness, it appears, is simply and only making sure that Arab causes are not completely sidelined at the world's largest diplomatic gathering. Topping the Arab agenda are the fate of the Palestinian cause, saving Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir from international trial over allegedly sanctioning crimes against humanity in Darfur, and the need for regional stability, especially in the Arab/Persian Gulf area. Saudi Arabia, in its capacity as current chair of the Arab Council of Foreign Ministers, demanded a special session of the UN Security Council (UNSC) be held on the fringe of the UNGA to address continued illegal Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories. No immediate reaction was forthcoming from the foreign minister of Burkina Faso, current president of the UNSC, but Arab sources in New York say that there is a good chance that the council will meet, "even if not at the ministerial level". "It is crucial for the world to face up to its responsibilities on this issue of settlements," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters on the eve of his departure for New York. Moussa argued that with the "endless erosion" of Palestinian territories by illegal Israeli settlements it becomes almost pointless to talk about the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. "I think we are inching closer and closer towards a point whereby Arabs and the world will have to think if it is possible to continue talking about the two-state solution or if they have to start talking about a one-state [bi-national solution]," Moussa said. On Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, "the process of Annapolis is ending and I see no results coming out of it," Moussa said late last week. The best the Arabs are shooting for is that any momentum gained in negotiations would be picked up, not lost, by the next US administration. Whereas the Palestinian issue is gridlocked, Arabs are hoping to make a difference on the Sudanese front on the fringe of this year's UNGA. Arab delegations are hard at work to conclude a deal with the West -- France being the main broker/mediator -- to put the International Criminal Court (ICC) on hold relative to the charges its prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has levelled against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir over Darfur. In July, Moreno-Ocampo asked pre-trial judges to issue an arrest warrant for Bashir on 10 charged: three counts of genocide, five counts of crimes against humanity, and two counts of murder. Judges are expected to study the evidence before deciding whether to order Al-Bashir's arrest. The Arab League is trying to promote a political package by which the Sudanese regime will call to justice all those directly involved in violations of human rights in Darfur, along with reaching a political agreement between Al-Bashir and the Darfur rebels facilitating the mission of international peacekeeping forces in the West Sudan region. Khartoum, Moussa and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit suggested, is receptive and willing to cooperate. Western capitals insist that Sudan extradite two leading officials of the Bashir regime to face ICC charges over Darfur. Bashir has declined to handover any of his aides, but says he is willing to try them before courts in Sudan. In New York, Arab delegations will promote this option or a variation on it. Arab delegations -- those who have good relations with Tehran and those who don't -- will also be speaking up against any plans to launch military strikes against Iran over its nuclear programme. Their argument is that the region cannot tolerate yet another explosive spot. The semi- regular foreign ministers gathering of "six plus three plus one" that brings together Gulf Cooperation Council members with Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and the US would offer opportunity for these parties to examine the increasingly hot issue of Gulf security. When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon kicked off the annual UNGA debate Tuesday, he called for global leadership. He pressed world leaders not to pursue narrow national interests in the face of the world's worsening financial, energy and food crises. The UN chief also called for states to provide the resources necessary to reform the UN. "Our challenges are increasingly those of collaboration rather than confrontation," Ban Ki- Moon declared. "Nations can no longer protect their interests, or advance the well-being of their people, without the partnership of the rest," he affirmed. However, he warned, "I see a danger of nations looking more inward, rather than towards a shared future. I see a danger from the progress we have made, particularly in the realm of development and more equitably sharing the fruits of global growth." Commenting, an Arab diplomat speaking to the Weekly from New York said that the spirit partnership was positive, but that what counts most is what Arab states really get out of it. This week, the Arab League was offended by a decision of Norway, chair of a special assistance committee for the Palestinians, to exclude the Arab organisation from a meeting held on the fringes of the UNGA. In a press statement issued Monday, the secretariat of the Arab League expressed "deep dismay" at the decision and directly suggested that Israel, a participant in the meeting, "exercised a veto". Egyptian diplomatic sources in New York said that attempts by Egypt to adjust the Norwegian stand were not successful. Arab League Secretary-General Moussa suggested before leaving to New York that Israel is resisting the presence of the Arab organisation in all international forums that attend to Arab rights and warned that the collective voice of Arabs will not be silenced. "There is much resistance to the Arab League, but we will not give up," Moussa said.
