by Askia Muhammad
White House Correspondent
DUBAI,
United Arab Emirates
(FinalCall.com)�President
George W. Bush and Israel, America�s chief ally in the Middle
East, could
have immediate security if they would only �spell peace with a
�J� for justice,� Muslim and Arab leaders are saying
increasingly with one voice as the Honorable Minister Louis
Farrakhan�s historic Peace Mission makes its way through the
region.
President
Bush �missed a great opportunity to win friends over here,� Min.
Farrakhan said following a meeting with Yemeni Judge Hamood Al-Hitar
June 27. �That�s what we�re hearing from everyone we�ve talked
to.�
Earlier
that day, the Nation of Islam leader met with Yemeni President
Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is among a growing chorus of Muslim
heads of state who have begun to express public doubts about the
fairness of the Bush proposal. Two days earlier, Min. Farrakhan
met with His Royal Highness Hamad bin Khalifah Al-Thani, the
Emir of Qatar, who also criticized the Bush proposal which was
outlined in a Rose Garden speech June 24.
Mr. Bush
called for �new and different Palestinian leadership ... not
compromised by terror,� as a condition for their statehood with
U.S. support. �It will be decided by my people and no one else,�
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat�elected by an
overwhelming majority of the votes cast in an internationally
monitored 1996 election�countered to reporters the next day
following a meeting with French Foreign Minister Dominique de
Villepin.
The
Palestinian Authority did announce plans to hold new national
elections in early 2003. Many others expressed surprise that Mr.
Bush would question the electoral credentials of any other head
of state, considering that his own ascent to the White House is
tainted by widespread charges that his �selection� as president
came as a result of a stolen �election,� especially in Florida
where his brother is governor and where thousands of eligible
Black voters were purged from the voting rolls.
�Egypt
strongly supports the democratically-elected Palestinian
leadership and refuses any attempt to outflank it,� Egyptian
Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told reporters in Cairo June 30,
following a meeting of several U.S. Senators with Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak.
Mr.
Bush�s proposal �complicates� the prospects for peace Saudi
Prince Nawaf bin Abdulaziz told London-based Asharq Al-Awsat
in an interview June 29.
�We think
Pres. Bush should re-think his alternative suggestions about
getting rid of Arafat when he was duly elected,� the Rev. Al
Sampson, pastor of Fernwood Methodist Church in Chicago, and a
Farrakhan Peace Mission delegation-member, told The Final
Call.
The U.S.
appears to stand alone�even among its staunchest European allies
in its insistence that Mr. Arafat be removed. British Prime
Minister Tony Blair expressed frustration with Mr. Arafat, but
did not call for his ouster from office following a summit of
the Group of Eight industrial nations in Canada.
�The Emir
of Qatar was very favorably impressed with the mission of the
Minister,� said the Rev. James Bevel, a member of the Farrakhan
delegation and once a top lieutenant of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. during his Southern voting and other equal rights campaigns,
and as a part of the strong anti-Vietnam War stand adopted by
the country�s premiere civil rights leader. �I think he and the
Minister held very similar views.�
The Rev.
Sampson is also an important former disciple of Dr. King. �We
think that it is a time for the Palestinians and the Israeli
government to sit down. There will be no compromise on either
side, as long as they take a military strategy to solve the
kinds of problems that are separating them,� he said.
To that
end, he continued, �the American media needs to broaden their
base of public opinion. With both the Emir and the President,
they felt that President Bush would receive a �C� or a �D� with
his message from a grading point of view. The �C� is that it did
not bring the character of America to make him an honest peace
broker. And the �D� is that they didn�t �deliver� on both
sides. Some folks feel that it was (Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel) Sharon that wrote the speech for President Bush.
�President Bush�s speech has given Min. Louis Farrakhan and his
delegation a very, very clear justification for a worldwide
peace tour into this part of the Middle East because it
challenges the Muslim leadership, as well as the African
countries to stand in opposition against a Third World War,� the
Rev. Sampson continued. �The mission is becoming much clearer,�
the Rev. Bevel agreed.
Min.
Farrakhan�s Peace Mission has two goals: to stop the carnage and
bloodshed in the Middle East between the Palestinians and
Israelis that threaten that region and the entire world with war
long enough for international intervention and supervision that
can lead to a just and lasting peace; and to rally Muslim
support to halt another bloodbath in Iraq�if the U.S. follows up
on its announced plans to remove Pres. Saddam Hussein from
power.
In
addition, the Muslim leader announced his 48 years of Islamic
leadership has other ambitions as well. �The work of the Holy
Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) is not complete until the
Western Hemisphere has been fully exposed to the great message
of the Qur�an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH). That is our
mission: to bring the message of Islam to the whole Western
Hemisphere,� Min. Farrakhan said to Judge Al-Hitar, a member of
Yemen�s Human Rights Commission.
Min.
Farrakhan�s balanced approach to peacemaking is winning allies
throughout the Muslim world. �An Arabic proverb says that a
person is always least under his tongue,� Judge Al-Hitar told
Min. Farrakhan. �After your talk, you have (instead) become so
great after what we have heard from under your tongue.�
Photo: Minister Farrakhan, wife Khadijah and
members of the Peace Mission delegation are welcomed by
President Saleh of Yemen.
Credit: Kenneth Muhammad
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