15 December 2008: Gulf News
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By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
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Manama: Bahrain's proposal to create a regional organisation including all Arab countries, Turkey, Iran and Israel has been submitted to the Arab League, Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa has said.
"The proposal is on the agenda of the Arab League and I have been heavily engaged in consultations with brothers and friends since I announced it," Shaikh Khalid said in a television debate on Saturday evening.
The minister first called for the formation of the forum in September at the United Nations general assembly. It has since sparked controversial reactions, ranging from outright rejection by some Bahraini MPs and Iran to full support by Western powers as well as Bahraini and Arab columnists and thinkers who saw in it an opportunity to move forward with stalled issues.
Addressing the Manama Dialogue, a regional security conference in the Bahraini capital, Shaikh Khalid said that the creation of the forum stemmed from a "firm conviction in the importance of dialogue and enhanced cooperation."
Pressing issues
"Through this organisation, all countries in the Middle East and North Africa region can address, among each other, how best to tackle the pressing challenges before them. This is an organisation in which countries that do not necessarily like or even recognise each other yet, sit together and address pressing issues. It is a forum within which the necessary agreements can be hammered out. It is an environment in which all key actors can interact frankly and openly, and in which they can hold one another to account for their actions and reactions," he told senior participants from 25 countries. The Iranian delegation was not present, although it was invited to attend and to deliver a speech at the gathering.
Shaikh Khalid recognised there would be problems overcoming resistance from some countries.
"Due to the depth and diversity of problems, we will face challenges in establishing such an organisation, and in persuading all states in the region to participate actively and in good faith."
He added that they will need the support of the international community in bringing all sides to the table. "Crucially, the organisation must be, and must be seen to be, a genuinely Middle Eastern body in which Middle Eastern countries sit down to reach Middle Eastern solutions to Middle Eastern issues," he said.
During the debate, Shaikh Khalid said moves towards the creation of the regional forum would be expanded internationally "because Arabs tend to move rather slowly amid mistakes."
"We should not miss opportunities, one after the other," he said.
The US, Britain, France and Turkey have declared their support to the Bahraini initiative; however, Iran has rejected it, saying that the regional forum would be a good idea if it did not include Israel.
Crucially, the organisation must be, and must be seen to be, a genuinely Middle Eastern body in which Middle Eastern countries sit down to reach Middle Eastern solutions to Middle Eastern issues."
