News from Monday, March 23, 2009
Siniora: Two-state Solution Still the Goal
At the Körber Foundation’s 142nd Bergedorf Round Table in Beirut, Fouad Siniora, the Prime Minister of Lebanon, called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative. Siniora remarked that if it proved impossible to resolve the conflict, the region would experience an escalation of political and socio-economic tensions.
Under the chairmanship of former German President Richard von Weizsäcker high-ranking politicians and specialists from the Middle East, Europe and the U.S. and representatives of the United Nations and the Arab League discussed the possibilities and limits of regional peace initiatives, including that of the Arab League at the two-day Round Table last weekend. Before the start of the proceedings the participants met Lebanese President Michel Suleiman.
“The contribution of regional actors to attempts to bring about a resolution of the conflict in the Middle East has often been underestimated,” Volker Perthes, director of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) and moderator of the 142nd Bergedorf Round Table remarked. “It is true of course that without the help of the United States peace between Israel and its neighbours cannot materialize. However, states such as Saudi Arabia or Turkey are often much better at bringing together the parties to a regional conflict and preparing the ground for compromises.”
Klaus Wehmeier, deputy chairman of the Executive Board of the Körber Foundation, pointed out that dialogue was an essential precondition for the peaceful resolution of the regional conflicts. “With the Bergedorf Round Table in Beirut we have managed to make a contribution to more mutual understanding in the region,” Wehmeier added. “Especially at times when governments find it difficult to talk on an official level on account of the political circumstances, the Round Table shows just how useful it can be.”
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