Annapolis: Into the Lion's Den
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com Commentary
November 27, 2007If Tuesday's Mideast peace parley in Annapolis is meant to lay the foundation for a democratic Palestinian state, some of the names on the guest list seem curiously out of place.
For reasons known perhaps only to the bureaucrats at Foggy Bottom, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has included on her list of invitees representatives of some of the world's least democratic countries.
What contribution to peace and democratization in the Middle East, one wonders, are the unelected despots of Saudi Arabia and Syria in a position to make?
Does Palestine-in-the-making need Damascus' advice on cross-border assassination perhaps? Or will the Saudis offer Mahmoud Abbas counsel on keeping religious minorities in check -- or how to handle rape victims?
Another key Annapolis guest, Russia's Sergei Lavrov, represents a regime whose KGB-trained ruler is maneuvering to extend his tenure in office, even as he ramps up rhetoric against Washington, tries to undermine U.S. interests in Central Asia, gets cozy with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and cracks down on opposition protestors at home.
Sudan will be there too, despite international revulsion at the continuing carnage in Darfur.
Another jarring presence on the guest list is that of Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi of China, representing an administration that props up oppressive regimes from Rangoon to Khartoum while systematically suppressing political and religious freedom at home.
And doesn't Pakistan's unconstitutional government have enough on its hands to deal with right now?
Also attending is the secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, a grouping of 57 nations that insists that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism, but has stymied attempts to come up with a definition of terrorism because of a refusal to acknowledge that suicide bombings against civilians constitute terrorism even when the bombers are Palestinians and the civilians Israelis.
This is also the group that has been campaigning at the U.N. for an international ban on the "defamation" of religions and prophets - read, Islam and Mohammed. And it's been a good ally to member-state Sudan, watering down attempts by Western nations at the U.N. Human Rights Council to condemn Khartoum over Darfur.
The secretary-general of the Arab League has been invited to Annapolis, as have representatives of 13 of the bloc's 22 members. Of the 22, not one is a multiparty democracy (Iraq comes the closest) and more than half outlaw apostasy, the proselytizing of non-Muslim faiths, or both. Nine of the 22 are defined as "partly free" by the veteran rights watchdog Freedom House, and the rest as "not free." (Incidentally, the Arab League in 2006 rewarded Venezuela's Hugo Chavez for his harsh condemnation of Israel by granting Venezuela observer status, and then backing Chavez' ultimately unsuccessful bid for a U.N. Security Council seat.)
If there is a common thread running through much of the invitation list, it is a singular lack of respect for human rights and democratic norms. If there is another, it is a shared antipathy towards Israel.
At a media briefing last week, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch said the countries being invited include "key members of the international community who, in our estimation, have played a leadership role in helping to bring peace and are making current energetic contributions."
Really? One wonders what Senegal has done lately towards that end. Recent news stories from the small West African nation include plans to evict thousands of street sellers from the center of the capital, violent protests over unemployment and rising prices, and government support for Iran's "legitimate right" to a nuclear energy program. Still, at least Muslim majority Senegal has diplomatic ties with Israel, which can't be said for most of its OIC comrades.
There are others on the Annapolis guest list, of course. But one has to look hard to find invitees likely to supportive of Israel. Canada and Japan (included on the list as members of the G8) -- perhaps. France, Germany and Poland (there as European Union members) -- possibly. The jury is still out on some of these nations.
But of the others rounding out the list, Israel can't expect to get much sympathy from the likes of such stalwarts of the Non-Aligned Movement as Malaysia or South Africa.
In an attempt to ensure that the Annapolis project has the veneer of the widest possible international legitimacy, Rice may have done little more than stock up the lions' den.
Daniel's angels are going to have to work overtime.
(Patrick Goodenough is international editor for Cybercast News Service.)