The Arab League...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
appealed to member states Sunday to bolster financial help to the Paleostinian territories after U.S. politicians froze about $200 million in aid in response to Paleostinians' U.N. statehood bid.
"It is necessary for the member countries of the League to increase their financial aid to the Paleostinian people so they can face this threat," said Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi after talks in Cairo with chief Paleostinian negotiator Saeb Erakat.
| Good luck with that. How far behind are they on their previous pledges? |
The economic package is separate from security aid, which the U.S. politicians say would be counterproductive to block. They fear that withholding those funds would weaken the ability of Paleostinian security forces to quell anti-Israel violence.
A coalition of Israel-backing Democrats and conservative Republican politicians are angered by the Paleostinian bid for United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
membership. Both the United States and Israel insist that only direct negotiations can produce an accord leading to Paleostinian statehood.
"It is the right of the Paleostinians to have their state, a full member of the United Nations, like other peoples of the world," Arabi said.
Erakat for his part declared that the "Paleostinian people refuse to allow economic aid to become an instrument of blackmail regarding its rights to membership of the United Nations."
"We appreciate the American aid but we won't allow it to become an instrument of blackmail," he said.
Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
made a historic bid for U.N. membership on September 23. But the United States has vowed to veto the application if it comes to a Security Council vote.
The diplomatic
Quartet... The Quartet are the UN (xylophone), the United States (alto), the European Union (soprano), and Russia (shortstop). The group was established in Madrid in 2002 by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy....
on the Middle East -- the United States, Russia, European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
and United Nations -- has launched a new bid to get direct talks resumed with a firm timetable for an accord.