Arab Foreign Ministers Slam U.S. Bias and Sharon

28/05/2001| IslamWeb

CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab foreign ministers criticized the United States at the end of an emergency meeting on Thursday for bias toward Israel and slammed Israeli Prime Ariel Sharon for cutting ties with the Palestinian leadership.
The Arab League meeting, which Palestinians requested after an upsurge in Middle East violence, also gave its backing to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in confronting Israeli policies.
Delegates had said earlier that the Cairo meeting, which ran late into the evening, was bogged down because Syria questioned whether ministers should offer their full backing to Arafat after he called on Palestinians to end armed attacks on Israel.
``The (end of meeting) statement could have been stronger or weaker than this, but what we have achieved is consensus,'' Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told a news conference.
The Arab League's statement criticized the United States, including its decision to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution, sponsored by Egypt and Tunisia, that called for a ''monitoring mechanism'' to ease conditions in the West Bank and Gaza.
The statement urged the United States to ``review its bias toward extremist Israeli policies, made clear in its use of the veto in the Security Council to benefit Israel...which would itself encourage Israel to continue its aggressive policy.''
The United States has said Israel has the right to defend itself against attack, following a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings. Palestinians have said Israel has interpreted this as a green light to launch attacks on them.
The Arab League also pledged to continue financial support for the Palestinian Authority budget until another meeting due to be held in Beirut, probably in March.
The Authority depends heavily on a 45 million monthly contribution from Arab states, which meets most of its 55 million monthly bill for civil service salaries. The contribution was due to come to end this month.