Arab delegates meet in Syria for talks on reviving boycott of Israel
05 November 2007
By The
Associated Press
Delegates to a Syrian-based anti-Israel office began talks in Damascus
on Monday on ways to revive momentum for the Arab boycott of Israel.
Eight Arab countries stayed away from the four-day meeting, including
Egypt and Jordan which have signed peace treaties with Israel.
Those attending the gathering, held twice a year at the headquarters of
the Central Boycott Office in Damascus, included delegates from 14 Arab
states and the West Bank and Gaza.
Topping the agenda was the boycott of companies that do business with
Israel and ways to abort attempts by some Israeli companies to penetrate
Arab markets.
The commissioner general of the organization, Tunisia's Mohammad al-Tayyeb
Bouslaa, stressed that the boycott was needed because of the "flagrant
Israeli aggression on the Palestinians and the continued Israel
occupation of Arab lands."
"Boycott is legitimate and we cling fast to it so long as it is
considered a tool of pressure on Israel to force it to bow to give back
the usurped Arab lands and rights," Bouslaa told the meeting's opening
session.
Mohammad Ajami, head of the Syrian office for the boycott of Israel,
told reporters the boycott still remained influential and a popular Arab
demand.
"Some Arab countries are committed to the meeting after they have
discovered that peace with Israel is a mirage and a lie," Ajami said.
The once-influential Damascus office was set up in 1951 and was funded
by the Arab League to track down foreign companies that do business with
or support Israel and then ban them from operating in the Arab world.
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