Key points from the Arab summit’s “Khartoum Declaration”
Mar 29, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Here are the key points of the Khartoum Declaration, the final statement issued Wednesday at the end of a two-day Arab League summit held in the Sudanese capital.
On Palestinian issues, the leaders:
– renew their commitment to the 2002 Arab peace initiative, which offered Israel a comprehensive peace in return for a withdrawal from Arab lands.
– call on “the international community to respect the will of the Palestinian people in choosing their leaders and not to interfere in their internal affairs.”
– reject unilateral Israeli measures “that aim at ending the peace process.”
On Iraq:
– renew their solidarity with Iraqis and their elected government and called for “respect for Iraq’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and independence.”
– denounce attacks that have targeted religious shrines and places of worship and call for unity among the Iraqi people.
On Darfur:
– affirm their support for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur and underline their rejection of deploying other troops here without permission of the Sudanese government, a reference to U.N. peacekeepers.
– call for parties at the Darfur peace talks to step up efforts to reach a settlement and express their intention “to increase joint Arab forces within the African Union and offer the necessary funding for them to continue their mission.”
On nuclear issues:
– call on the international community to declare the Middle East “an area free from weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons” and to commit Israel to signing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and open all its nuclear activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
On terrorism:
– condemn all forms of terrorism, saying they regard crimes committed by terrorist groups as “grave violations of human rights that represent a threat to national security and stability of Arab countries.”
On Syria:
– express solidarity with Syria in the face of international pressure and U.S. sanctions imposed in 2003.
On Lebanon:
– support the Lebanese political process and its resistance — Hezbollah — and call for the truth to be revealed about the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and other recent attacks, expressing support for the prosecution of the perpetrators.
On religion:
– affirm the need for “cooperation, dialogue and mutual respect between peoples and cultures … and remind that respecting religious sanctities and beliefs is the decisive factor in building confidence and bridges of friendship between nations.”
– express “our absolute rejection and condemnation of any insult to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and any religion or its symbols and call on the countries of the world to pass laws that ban such actions.”
(ST/AP)