The Middle East conference in Annapolis sparked a flurry of protests and flag burning ceremonies across the region on Tuesday, where the Bush administration’s drive to renew the long-dormant peace process has been widely condemned by angry Muslims and Jews alike.
Outraged Muslims took to the streets in Egypt, Gaza, Iran and Indonesia to vocalise their discontent, while Jewish settlers demonstrated in Jerusalem.
President George W. Bush opened the high-stakes Israeli-Palestinian peace conference on Tuesday with the aim of agreeing on a peace treaty within 13 months that would create a Palestinian state.
The conference is being attended by more than 40 states, including Saudi Arabia, Syria and other Arab powers, although expectations of any major strides being made during the three days of meetings are low.
In Kuwait, over 100 people marched on Determination Square waving banners with slogans proclaiming “No for normalization with the Zionists”, “Kuwait will remain an advocate for Al-Aqsa Mosque”, and “No to the conference of surrender”, reported the Kuwait Times daily.
Protesters in Jordan’s capital Amman shouted “Death to Israel” and burnt Israeli and US flags. Many in the kingdom believe the Annapolis peace talks are a farce and that America has no authority to erode the rights of Muslims.
“We think that those who participated in Annapolis were not appointed by anyone and do not possess the right to compromise the pillars of the nation and its principles,” Sheikh Hamza Mansour, a leading Islamist politician, told newswire Reuters.
Tens of thousands joined an anti-Annapolis rally in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas Islamists who oppose the meeting, chanting “Abbas is a traitor” and “Death to Israel, death to America”. Security forces in Ramallah, Abbas’s West Bank stronghold, dispersed crowds after scuffles at a protest there.
In Annapolis both pro- and anti-Israeli organisations have obtained permission to stage protests. The Baltimore Sun reported. Shalom International and Americans for a Safe Israel, as well as Neturei Karta International, a group opposing Zionism, staged demonstrations in the Maryland state capital.
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