When Arab parliamentarians met in Cairo on Sunday to discuss Israel's attacks on Cairo the result, writes Gamal Essam El-Din, was a predictable hurling of abuse The Israeli attack on Gaza caused divisions among Arab parliamentarians on Sunday. During a meeting hosted by the Arab League in Cairo Arab parliamentarians indulged in attacks and verbal clashes while some states, such as Syria, refused to send delegates at all. Jassem El-Sakr, chairman of the Arab Parliament, urged Arab countries to mend rifts and close ranks in the face of Israeli attacks on Arab territories, arguing that the Treaty of Mutual Arab Defence, defunct for more than four decades, should be re- invoked in the face of Israel's repeated aggression against Arab land. A statement by the Arab Parliament urged Arab countries to collect more than $35 million in economic assistance for besieged Palestinians and said an Arab parliamentary committee would be formed to help reconstruct Gaza. The statement went on to laud Egyptian efforts to effect a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. "We urge Egypt to continue these efforts because of its leading role and experience in this respect," said the statement. Other delegates used the meeting to attack Egypt, accusing Cairo of collaborating with Israel in imposing an economic blockade on Gaza. Ragab El-Towair, chairman of the Libyan delegation, deplored that it was in Cairo that Israel had declared war against Hamas. El-Towair also blamed Egypt for not opening the Rafah crossing. In response, El-Sakr and Mustafa El-Feki, chairman of the People's Assembly's Foreign Relations Committee, walked out of the meeting. El-Sakr urged parliamentarians not to use the meeting to deepen Arab divisions while El-Feki insisted all efforts should be concentrated on facing up to Israel rather than wasting them on mutual recrimination and blame. El-Feki went so far as to warn that repeated attacks from some Arab countries on Cairo could force Egypt to withdraw from the Arab League. El-Sakr strongly defended Egyptian policymakers, pointing out that they maintained permanent contacts with Hamas and Fatah with a view to closing ranks and promoting reconciliation. "Egypt has done its utmost to achieve Palestinian reconciliation and open the Rafah crossing legally but divisions among Palestinians remain deep," said El-Sakr. He urged Fatah and Hamas to respond positively to Cairo's overtures. In the consultative upper house of the Shura Council on Sunday members hurled criticisms at Hamas. Shura Council Chairman and Secretary-General of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) Safwat El-Sherif accused Hamas of toeing the line of radical Arab regimes at the expense of the Palestinian cause. "Not to mention," said El-Sherif, "that Hamas was forced by these regimes not to attend the reconciliation dialogue or renew the Egyptian brokered six-month truce with Israel." As a result, El-Sherif went on, Gaza has been subjected to barbaric Israeli attacks. "The leaders of Hamas, who have brought havoc to Gaza, should not blame Egypt for their mistakes and for what they have cultivated with their own hands," said El-Sherif. He did, however, reject accusations by appointed member Nabil Louqa Bibawi that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was an agent in the pay of Iran, insisting that the Shura Council was no place to level unfounded claims against Palestinian leaders. Not that members were deterred. Both Mashaal and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah were roundly denounced. "Mashaal is living in a luxurious palace in Damascus instead of going to Gaza to fight the Israelis there," railed appointed Shura Council member Ahmed Abdel-Halim. He charged that Hamas leaders lived luxurious life styles at the expense of their people, cavorting in Damascus's five-star hotels from where they delivered their stinging criticisms of Egypt. "They are good fighters in salons and harbour a lot of grudges against Egypt," said Abdel-Halim, who also attacked Nasrallah, urging him to take action against Israel from Lebanon rather than spending all his energy making verbal attacks against Egypt. Mohamed Ragab, NDP spokesman in the Shura Council, warned that the opening of the Rafah crossing would be a major security headache. "Israel and Hamas both try to export the problems of Gaza to Egypt," said Ragab, who accused the regimes of Iran and Syria of mobilising street demonstrations in front of Egypt's embassies in Beirut and Damascus. Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabali accused Hamas of exploiting the Israeli massacre in Gaza for political ends. "They did this by making use of some media channels and at the expense of the suffering of the Palestinians," said El-Gabali, who revealed that in the first three days of Israel's attacks Hamas had refused to send Palestinian casualties to Egyptian hospitals. "They insisted the injured be treated in Gaza's hospitals although the capacity to treat them effectively was not there," said El-Gabali. He also pointed out that the Rafah crossing is open to allow tones of medical supplies into Gaza. Egypt has sent more than 100 ambulances to the Rafah crossing and more than 500 Egyptian doctors are ready to go to Gaza and help treat injured Palestinians. Moufid Shehab, minister of state for legal and parliamentary affairs, said that in spite of Hamas's political manoeuvres Egypt had been able to save 112 Palestinian lives. "We offered them all kinds of medical treatment while four others died because they reached Egypt from Gaza too late." The Shura Council also launched stinging attacks against Israel, accusing it of violating the 1949 Geneva Accords on the right of resistance movements to fight occupation. Some opposition members, including Nagi El-Shehabi, chairman of the Geel (Generation) Party, called for Israel's ambassador to Cairo to be expelled. NDP members responded by saying that it was essential to keep all channels of communication open in order to minimise the dangers facing the Palestinians.
