CAIRO: Cautious optimism over the Annapolis conference prevailed during the celebration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People organized by the United Nations Association of Egypt in Cairo Thursday. The panel of speakers canvassed a broad spectrum of opinion from the Arab and international community including the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, the Arab League (AL), the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the United Nations (UN). Assistant Foreign Minister for Arab Affairs Mohammed Badr El-Din Zayed speaking on behalf of Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the assembled gatherers that, "This celebration coincides with an important event in the history of the Palestinian cause, which is the Annapolis peace conference, which we hope will be the beginning of the launch of serious negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis and put an end to the oppression and injustice the Palestinian people have been subjected to for half a century. "And Egypt participated in this conference, despite all the doubts surrounding it, out of a sense of historical responsibility towards our brothers in Palestine, Zayed added. AL Assistant Secretary-General and representative to Palestine Mohammed Subeih, speaking on behalf of AL Chief Amr Moussa said, "The Annapolis conference showed a cohesive Arab position and a safety net for the Palestinian delegation. [Previous Arab League meetings] put stipulations for participation in this meeting. These stipulations did not allow for anyone to be excised from this meeting, hence was the insistence of inviting Syria and placing it on the agenda. Subieh continued, "This cohesive Arab position cemented the Arab peace initiative and ensured that normalization with Israel will not come except from within the Arab peace initiative when Israel withdraws from all occupied Arab lands, and the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and a fair and just solution for the refugees. Only then will the Arab countries, together and with one shared document, sign a peace treaty with Israel. Resistance group Hamas, which won the Palestinian elections in early 2006, and has now taken over Gaza, were not invited to Annapolis. Last year's celebration in Cairo hosted then Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. PA Ambassador to Egypt Munzir Al-Dajani sent a message to Hamas telling them to return to the fold of the PA and join the peace process. "The circumstances are still there for Hamas to rescind on their military coup in Gaza, and return to engage in real and serious dialogue within the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and emerge with one position. The unified Arab position was up to task. The speech of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on this occasion was delivered by Chief of the UN Information Center in Cairo Maher Nassar. "This International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People comes at a time when Palestinians continue to suffer the indignities and violence of occupation and conflict, Ki-moon's statement said, "but also at a time when a new beginning has been made in efforts to achieve a two-state solution to the conflict. The statement continued, "In Annapolis, I pledged the full support of the United Nations for the renewed effort. I stressed that for 60 years, the Organization has provided the broad parameters for peace, first in the partition plan, and then in Security Council resolutions 242, 338, 1397 and 1515, and that today, the UN has few higher priorities than seeing this conflict resolved. "We all know the reasons why. The Palestinians have been deprived of their inalienable right to self-determination for 60 years. The Palestinian society has been increasingly fragmented - territorially, by settlements, land expropriation and the barrier in the occupied Palestinian territory; socially and economically, by closure; and politically, between Gaza and the West Bank. They have begun to fear that the dream of statehood may slip beyond their grasp. This growing sense of despair must be reversed, Ki-moon urged. The most vocal opposition voice was that of Deputy Head of the United Nations Association of Egypt Essam Eldin Hawas who said, "Why does Bush want to make this peace now, bringing it together in a matter of months? This Palestinian administration has been around for five years and no one has reached out to them. How come they support them now? The support only came after the split between the Palestinians. Is it support against Israel? No it is support against their fellow Palestinians. The UN General Assembly passed a resolution in 1977 to declare Nov. 29 the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The reason this date was chosen was because it was the same day the Assembly passed resolution 181 for the partition of Palestine in 1947. "We are waiting to see what happens and the coming days will be very difficult, so the Arabs must stay together to prevent harm from coming to the Palestinian cause, Subeih said.
