PFLP member slams Arab attendance at Israel conference
Published yesterday (updated) 01/02/2012 20:33
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=457047

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A Popular Front official in Lebanon condemned Wednesday
the participation of Arab and Palestinian delegations in a conference held
by an Israeli policy institute.

Marwan Abdul Al described the decision by Palestinian and Arab groups to
participate in the the Annual Herzliya Conference Series as "shameless."

“This is a new level in political normalization and this conference
specifically has cultural dimensions which are embodied in the humiliating
participation of some Arab and Palestinian political figures in this
conference,” the PFLP official told Ma’an.

The conferences are convened by IDC Herzliya’s Institute for Policy and
Strategy, which provides policy recommendations to organizations working in
the Middle East.

This year's conference was entitled "In The Eye of Storms: Israel & the
Middle East."

PLO official Saeb Erekat was listed as a speaker at the conference together
with Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan.

"What would the role of Arab delegations be? To offer advice? Or to reassure
Israel that it is safe during the current Arabic revolutions,” Abdul Al told
Ma'an.

“How could an Arabic country like Qatar, which is at the forefront of the
Arab Monitoring Committee of the Arab League, participate in such a
conference without any deterrent or impediment or conviction against
Israel?"

The goal of the annual conference is to enhance and protect Israeli
interests and Arab participation amounts to normalization as it neglects the
suffering of the Palestinian people, Abdul Al added.