Middle East politics dominated this year's Middle East WEF, with Hamas denouncing Israel's high profile involvement, and the US pointing the finger at Iran and Syria. Although there was much talk of high unemployment, the economic and social initiatives were pretty thin, write Nisreen El-Shamayleh Jordan hosted the annual World Economic Forum on the Middle East (WEF) for the fourth time at the Dead Sea last week. Around 1,000 participants from some 50 countries attended the gathering, which will be held in Egypt next year and in Jordan again in 2009. The forum, which is intended as an opportunity to discuss economic developments and reforms in the Middle Eastern region, focussed mainly on discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iraq. Jordanian King Abdullah II told the forum that the Arab peace initiative was a "historic opportunity to achieve a just, comprehensive and lasting settlement". During a meeting with Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, King Abdullah said Israel "should work to build confidence in dealing with the Palestinians in order to revive the peace process based on the Arab peace plan." Peres, who urged Arab countries to hold talks with Israel on the peace initiative they re-endorsed in March, told Arab officials at a panel discussion that Israel would make a counteroffer to the peace proposal as soon as possible. Peres gave no firm timeframe or specifics about the counteroffer despite questioning. The Arab peace initiative formulated at the last Arab League meeting in Riyadh offers Israel normal ties in return for a full withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and resolution of the refugee issue. Israel rejected the initiative when it was first disclosed, but has since used it as a basis for negotiation, provided there are changes on the refugee issue and the right of return. "You must understand that you cannot send us a document and say -- take it or leave it. It's not done," Peres said. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said that if the Israeli government was genuine in its readiness to discuss the peace plan, "we are all in business". Earlier, However, Moussa dismissed the recurrence of invitations by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to meet Arab leaders to discuss the plan, on the grounds that the Israelis didn't give answers; they only gave suggestions to sit down together and shake hands, a matter Moussa dubbed "a waste of time". Strongly sceptical of prospects for success of efforts to negotiate a just peace with Israel was Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. "We do not see any chance for the success of the Arab peace initiative because it fails to address fateful issues, like the capital of a Palestinian state and the right of return for some five million refugees," he said. During a panel discussion on Iraq, Jordan and Iraq both called for the complete ending of all sorts of interference in internal Iraqi affairs. "We have to end proxy wars, we don't want any party to use Iraq as a fighting ground for capital gains," Jordanian Foreign Affairs Minister Abdul-Ilah Khatib explained. Khatib added, however, that first Iraq must achieve political reconciliation internally. Iraqi Vice-President Tareq Al-Hashemi said Iraq is trying to convince its neighbours that the situation in Iraq is going to spill over into the region sooner or later. "We are not asking anyone to come and make decisions for us. All that we need is to stop people who are capitalising on our human tragedy; if this is beyond the capacity of the US then let the United Nations and our neighbours take over," Al-Hashemi said. The planned meeting of officials from Iran and the US 26 May to discuss Iraq worried another participant, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih. Salih said, "we have a fundamental concern if this means that Iran and the US will decide the future of Iraq; that will be unacceptable." Co-panelist, Mohamed Larijani, director of the Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics of Iran, said Iran has no interest in interfering in Iraq and does not send arms into Iraq because, "Iraq is already full of arms," and doesn't need them. However, US Republican senators Orrin Hatch and Gordon Smith insisted that Iran is supplying Iraq with weapons and bomb- making components and is making the US job more difficult when it sends weapons into Iraq "that are killing Americans and Iraqis". Smith said there is "no question that we have evidence that Syrians and Iranians are working to destabilise Iraq." Despite the sharp differences between the Arabs and Israelis Klaus Schwab, WEF founder and executive chairman, expressed the hope at the closing session "that in one of the years ahead we will be able to hold a similar meeting in Bethlehem to celebrate peace, reconciliation, justice and progress."
