In Algiers, Dina Ezzat examines the agenda of the 2005 Arab Summit and takes stock of 60 years of chequered pan-Arabism, interviewing key contemporary players and profiling past luminaries Deciding for themselves The Palestinian foreign minister is determined to redirect foreign policy From now on, says the new Palestinian Foreign Minister , it will be Palestinians "who decide on the political moves related to the Palestinian question" though they will still "accept coordinated support from Arab countries". Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly on the fringe of the Arab summit in Algiers Al-Qodwa was careful not to offend any of the Arab countries that Palestinian diplomats -- on condition of anonymity -- say have failed the Palestinian cause by accepting and promoting unfair compromises every time they found it convenient to do so. Which is not to say that Al-Qodwa -- nephew of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and a former chief of the Palestinian delegation in New York -- is not blaming several Arab capitals for the presumptuous positions they have adopted towards the Palestinian issue in recent decades. He may choose, for pragmatic reasons, not to name names but is perfectly willing to send covert messages to those Arab capitals that tend to deal with the Palestinian file as if it was an "internal issue". During the ministerial meetings leading up to the Arab summit in Algeria this week Al-Qodwa wasted no time in shrugging off the draft resolution proposed by his Jordanian counterpart restating Arab commitment to normalising relations with Israel under the umbrella of a comprehensive Middle East peace. But his impatience with the Jordanian proposal does not, he says, stem from any stand against the content of the draft resolution. "What we do not like is someone coming and proposing a draft resolution on the Palestinian issue without any prior consultations with the Palestinians." Al-Qodwa insists it was his "redrafting of the original Jordanian proposal" that made it acceptable to foreign ministers who had earlier rejected it. "But this must not happen again. I made it clear that next time anything that does not pass by us will be considered interference in the internal affairs of the Palestinian people." No Arab capital, Al-Qodwa insists, can continue to feel free to adopt a superior approach towards the Palestinians when they have demonstrated their exceptional ability -- "almost unique in the Arab world as demonstrated by the recent Palestinian elections" -- to administer their own affairs in a perfectly democratic way. So has the situation in which the Palestinians now find themselves been compounded by Arab meddling that, as some Palestinians argue, at times amounted to compromising fundamental Palestinian rights for the sake of other agendas? Not necessarily, says Al-Qodwa. Though this "is not to deny that the Palestinians have made far too many compromises, to the point now where their best hope is to build an independent Palestinian state on no more than 22 per cent of the historic land of Palestine". Nor is Al-Qodwa willing to hold the Palestinian leadership of the last decade and a half responsible for encouraging such concessions or even, as some critics suggest, facilitating them in return for personal gain. "This is absolutely not true. It is one of those rumours, aggressively propagated in the Western media. It is just like the fallacy that Arafat wasted an excellent opportunity to make comprehensive peace at Camp David." Al-Qodwa stresses that it is not so much bad ideas as the "sometimes not so professional approach" towards the Palestinian issue that has compounded the problems Palestinians face. "This is why I believe an institutional and professional approach has to be pursued and why restructuring and modernising the Palestinian Foreign Ministry is my number one priority." That process does not include compromising basic positions on Palestinian rights. "We have had more than our fair share of compromises. But there will certainly be some tough decisions to be made." Building internal Palestinian consensus on the outline of foreign policy is also high on Al-Qodwa's agenda. "We have clear objectives and legitimate demands but we need to talk among ourselves on how to achieve them," he says. Whether or not he will be consulting with Hamas and Islamic Jihad over foreign policy is not a question on which the Palestinian foreign minister is keen to dwell. But it does prompt him to stress that "President Mahmoud Abbas may be adopting a new style but he is not abandoning any of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people." Among his priorities Al-Qodwa lists strengthening ties with Arab states, but only on the no-interference basis already underlined. And, of course, he wants to work out a more solid relationship with the US. "I do not know of anyone who disputes the fact that in today's world Washington is the most important capital. There are no two ways about it. The Palestinians want to have the best possible relations with the US but in reality it is up to the US to decide how close these relations become." Whether or not Al-Qodwa will seek help from his Arab counterparts in cementing bridges with Washington remains unclear. "We do not want to part ways with our brothers but we are now entering a new game and we intend to play by the new rules: when it comes to the Palestinian issue the Palestinians decide."
