New Delhi
21 November 2007
The United States has invited India and 48 other countries and
institutions to the November 27 conference at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis,
Maryland. A cautiously optimistic New Delhi on Wednesday hoped that the conference
will produce something more than a declaration of intent, and not be reduced to a photo
opportunity.
Vice President Hamid Ansari articulated India's issues and concerns in an address to an
international conference on "Emerging Security Concerns in West Asia" hosted by the
Observer Research Foundation here. He said that Washington's unpopularity levels are
alarmingly high in Arab and Muslim countries and its intentions are suspected.
"The American West Asian policy is hampered by the 'Israel test' to which it is subjected
in terms of domestic politics," Mr Ansari said. According to him, the lack of a serious US
interest in the peace process has not helped matters. He said that the principal factors in
the West Asian strategic calculus are non-Arabs -- Israel, Iran and the US. "The
interaction of these with the region, and with each other, is having a decisive impact" on
the resolution of the crises plaguing West Asia for decades on end.
Concerns notwithstanding, New Delhi has welcomed the invitation. "[We are] satisfied
and gratified that we have been invited. We look forward to participating in the
conference," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy for West Asia Chinmaya
Gharekhan told this newspaper. He said that the invitation signifies recognition of the
growing role India has come to play. "West Asia is of great interest and concern to us
and we have been following developments with utmost care," he said.
National Security Advisory Board Convenor MK Rasgotra, in turn, said that India will
need to consider how to play an effective role in West Asia. Mr Rasgotra, a former
foreign secretary, said that peace in the region has become a monopoly of the West
when an Arab-Asian initiative could offer a constructive course of action.
India has not confirmed her participation yet. Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee are travelling. Sources in the Ministry of
External Affairs nevertheless indicated that India's participation is a certainty and that
only the level of participation needs to be firmed up.
According to Dr Michael Brie, vice chairman of the Germany-based Rosa-Luxemburg-
Stiftung, a dialogue between India and Europe could become a cornerstone of the
international architecture and have a role in West Asia. "When two elephants fight, grass
suffers and West Asia has become the grass of [big] powers," he said, alluding to an
Indian proverb.
Israeli Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit, who was recently in India, said that he did not have
high expectation from the Annapolis conference. For him, it could at best be a starting
point for further talks to bridge the big gap. "I do not believe in step by step, incremental
approach to conflict resolution ... peace or nothing, zero or 100 per cent, no internediate,"
he said in an interview to this newspaper.
"Israel should not give even one inch unless we have peace," he said, adding that he
would rather solve everything at once and then implement it in stages over an agreed
time table, like Israel did with Egypt in 1979. "Other wise," he cautions, "everybody tries
to score points along the way."
US Department of State Spokesman Sean McCormack has said in Washington that on
November 27, the US will host Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas, along with the members of the Quartet, the members of the
Arab League Follow-on Committee, the G-8, the permanent members of the United
Nations Security Council, and other key international actors for a conference at the US
Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
The spokesman said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will host a dinner on
the evening of November 26 in Washington, where US President George Bush will
deliver remarks. The Annapolis conference will open with the speeches by Mr Bush, Mr
Olmert and Mr Abbas. "[It] will signal broad international support for the Israeli and
Palestinian leaders' courageous efforts, and will be a launching point for negotiations
leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state and the realisation of Israeli-
Palestinian peace," he added.
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