Simon
26-03-03, 09:08
Straw says West hypocritical on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
By Haaretz Service and Reuters
LONDON - Britain said on Tuesday the West was hypocritical not to demand the same sort of adherence to UN Security Council resolutions for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as it does from Iraq.
British Foreign Minister Jack Straw told the BBC World Service he understood Arab concern about what he described as "injustice against the Palestinians".
"There is a real concern too that the West has been guilty of double standards - on the one hand saying the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Iraq must be implemented; on the other hand, sometimes appearing rather quixotic over the implementation of resolutions about Israel and Palestine."
Asked if he would plead guilty to double standards, Straw said: "To a degree yes... and we're going to deal with it."
He described a new Middle East "roadmap" as a necessary step towards peace. The roadmap, conceived by a quartet of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, is due to be made public soon.
The roadmap is a phased peace proposal that aims to calm hostilities of a nearly 2-1/2-year-old Palestinian uprising through reciprocal measures and sets as its ultimate goal the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel by 2005.
U.S. President George W. Bush has pledged to unveil the roadmap once Mahmoud Abbas, the first Palestinian prime minister, and his cabinet take office. The Arab world has accused Bush of supporting Israel against the Palestinians.
"It's our responsibility, yes, to deal with Iraq but also, yes, to deal with the Israel-Palestine crisis," Straw said, citing UN resolutions calling for two independent states.
U.S. and British troops are in Iraq, where the United States has said it aims to secure compliance of Baghdad's obligation to disarm under UN Security Council resolutions.
By Haaretz Service and Reuters
LONDON - Britain said on Tuesday the West was hypocritical not to demand the same sort of adherence to UN Security Council resolutions for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as it does from Iraq.
British Foreign Minister Jack Straw told the BBC World Service he understood Arab concern about what he described as "injustice against the Palestinians".
"There is a real concern too that the West has been guilty of double standards - on the one hand saying the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Iraq must be implemented; on the other hand, sometimes appearing rather quixotic over the implementation of resolutions about Israel and Palestine."
Asked if he would plead guilty to double standards, Straw said: "To a degree yes... and we're going to deal with it."
He described a new Middle East "roadmap" as a necessary step towards peace. The roadmap, conceived by a quartet of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, is due to be made public soon.
The roadmap is a phased peace proposal that aims to calm hostilities of a nearly 2-1/2-year-old Palestinian uprising through reciprocal measures and sets as its ultimate goal the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel by 2005.
U.S. President George W. Bush has pledged to unveil the roadmap once Mahmoud Abbas, the first Palestinian prime minister, and his cabinet take office. The Arab world has accused Bush of supporting Israel against the Palestinians.
"It's our responsibility, yes, to deal with Iraq but also, yes, to deal with the Israel-Palestine crisis," Straw said, citing UN resolutions calling for two independent states.
U.S. and British troops are in Iraq, where the United States has said it aims to secure compliance of Baghdad's obligation to disarm under UN Security Council resolutions.