Khatami to Haaretz: No chance of talks between Iran, Israel

By Ora Coren, Haaretz Correspondent

DAVOS - Former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami told Haaretz Saturday that there was no chance for talks between Iran and Israel. Speaking after a session at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Khatami said a solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict must be found that would allow the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and establish a Palestinian state.

During the session, he attacked the involvement of foreign powers in the Middle East, especially the United States. He called on Middle Eastern countries to reach a solution without outside involvement.

However, he also said that relations with the U.S. were very important, but slammed leaders he said were trying to force their will on others just because they were bigger.

He said Iran was also big, and no problem in the Middle East would be solved without its involvement.

Khatami was apparently alluding to statements by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at Davos over the weekend. Livni said a Palestinian state that would arise as the result of a peace agreement would be a new state in the region, since there had not previously been a Palestinian state connecting Gaza and the West Bank, and therefore there could be negotiations over its borders.

Khatami also said that when he was president of Iran, there had been a taboo against talks with the U.S., but that now the situation is different, and that opportunities between equals were opening.

Mohammed Khatami speaks at the session 'The Future of the Middle East' at the World Economic Forum

Action needed to resolve Middle East crisis of confidence

The Middle East is experiencing a crisis of confidence, agreed Ahmed Mahmoud Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt, and John F. Kerry, Senator from Massachusetts (Democrat), USA, in a plenary session on the future of the region. Solving this requires "great collaboration of all countries. . . we should build confidence in practice," said Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1997-2005).

One step would be to heal ties between Washington and Tehran. "The relationship between Iran and the United States can be great for the region and the whole world ... Unfortunately we have a very big, huge wall of inconfidence," Khatami noted. "Still, the door to the negotiation is open," he added. Kerry called on President Bush to engage with Iran and Syria.

Another step to restore confidence would be to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is the central issue fuelling instability in the region, said Abdullah Gül, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, and Amre Moussa, Secretary-General, Arab League of States. They appealed to leaders to move forward with urgency.

Source: Weforum.org - Webcast

S.T. : News agencies also reported Mohammad Khatami and Senator John Kerry shared some words (Address and Numbers?!) after the session. :)

Mohammad Khatami strongly condemns holding of the Holocaust denial conference in Iran

According to an AFP report: Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami has criticised a controversial conference on the Holocaust -- held in Tehran late last year -- in an interview published in Israel's mass-selling Yediot Aharonot.

"I strongly condemn the holding of this conference," Khatami said Friday in an interview given on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"The Holocaust against the Jewish people was one of the most grave acts against humanity in our time. There is no doubt that it happened," he is quoted as saying in a rare interview by an Iranian official to Israeli media.

"I suggest to all of us to separate the Holocaust from Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab discussions," he is quoted as saying. "It is without precedent and cannot be compared to anything else."

Iran's current hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad drew worldwide condemnation when he hosted a Tehran conference in mid-December casting doubt on the Holocaust.

Mohammad Khatami in Davos, for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2007

Over 2,000 leaders from business, politics, academia, the media and civil society will once again meet at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from 24-28 January.

Middle East Turmoil to Take Center Stage at World Economic Forum

GENEVA (AP) -- Middle East turmoil will take center stage at this year's World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, with Israeli and Palestinian officials, Middle Eastern leaders and Iraqi politicians attending, organizers said Wednesday.

The lineup for this year's meeting lacks a big-hitter from The White House, but several Bush administration officials and presidential hopefuls will attend. The guest list includes Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and key Shia, Sunni and Kurdish politicians from Iraq.

Israel will be represented by Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at the Forum, which begins next Wednesday just a couple of weeks before a meeting between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as part of a U.S. effort to breathe life into moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

"The Middle East issue is the most crucial issue for the world at this moment," said Klaus Schwab, head of the foundation that hosts the annual meeting of more than 1,000 business and political leaders and officials in Davos.

One Middle East session is titled "Enough is Enough." Another on the future of the region includes European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and ex-Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, a frequent guest.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will open the five-day meeting in her new role as head of the 27-nation European Union and the Group of Eight industrialized countries, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will close it, but much of the talk in between will focus on the shift in power away from Europe and the United States to emerging countries in Asia and Latin America.

"Our world is rapidly changing and power is shifting geopolitically," Schwab told reporters at the Forum's Geneva headquarters. "Power, wealth and well-being are spread in ever more complex ways, leading to a world which is harder and harder to understand."

In total 24 heads of government or state will be present, he said. They include Africa's first female president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, new Mexican President Felipe Calderon and frequent attendee Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil.

Excluded from the "shifting power equation" that is the Forum's theme this year is Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a left-wing critic of the United States who has been lining up allies in Latin America and Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who were not invited.

Previous key U.S. speakers at the forum have included former U.S. President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney and Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell. Condoleezza Rice, the current secretary, addressed the meeting by satellite link last year.

Potential U.S. presidential hopefuls Christopher Dodd, John Kerry and John McCain will attend. They will be joined by other U.S. senators including Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Patrick Leahy and Republicans Trent Lott and Saxby Chambliss.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was expected to attend, but had to cancel after a ski accident, Schwab said.

"We hope he'll be here next year," Schwab added.

Top Bush administration officials attending include Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and top trade negotiator Susan Schwab will be meeting on the sidelines of the Forum with two dozen of their international counterparts in an effort to revitalize stalled World Trade Organization talks.

Although the WTO's five-year-old Doha round of trade negotiations were never legally or formally suspended, momentum has been gathering for a staged "official relaunch" of talks aimed at slashing subsidies and cutting tariffs for global trade in goods and agriculture.

Perhaps conscious of the failures of previous trade meetings, the organizers of the Davos get-together are setting ambition at an absolute minimum.

"The aim of the meeting is ... to take stock on ministerial level and exchange ideas on the road ahead and how to advance the process," the Swiss Economics Ministry said this week.

The Forum will also address many of the same threats to global welfare from previous years, from climate change to terrorism and energy security to bird flu.

Stars will be less conspicuous than in previous years. Bono is back, as is Peter Gabriel, but there will be no Angelina Jolie or Sharon Stone.

While that may cool the paparazzi's interest, over 800 corporate chairmen and chief executives will be on hand, including Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian billionaire hoping to complete by June a US$33.4 billion merger that would create the world's largest steelmaker.

Up to 5,500 Swiss army soldiers will be on duty to protect the Davos meeting, while the air force is patrolling the skies, the Swiss Defense Department has said.

Unjust Iraq Occupation Has Led to Dangerous 'Fire' in Region

By Mohammad Khatami

In view of escalating public protests against the current war-mongering policies of the United States in the Middle East, especially in Iraq, and the sternly unequivocal position adopted by the U.S. Congress against continued occupation of Iraq, it was natural to expect the mitigation of crises and a move to secure the long-term interests of the US in this critical region.

There is no doubt that toppling the despotic and tyrannical regime of Saddam has brought contentment to the people of Iraq and in the region at large. That regime had massacred thousands of noble Iraqis, foisted two devastating wars onto our region, and left behind a long record of criminal behavior marked with its deployment of weapons of mass destruction and engagement in chemical warfare.

Not least, Iran, which had withstood harshest of atrocities in the hands of the despotic and predatory regime of Saddam, found satisfaction in witnessing its downfall.

Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the US occupation of Iraq has intensified crises by turning Iraq into a hotbed of tension, violence and destruction. First and foremost this has cost the Iraqis, and then the American people, who are held to shoulder the conflict's heavy burden.

American citizens already have inquired about and should continue to question the grounds for this military adventurism that the delusion and poor judgment of the power elite has instigated.

This has yielded nothing but carnage, has unleashed waves of hatred, and has accrued hundreds of billions of dollars of expenditure in the name of the great nation of America.Clearly, this war cannot be characterized as a “Just War” in so far as it has failed to eradicate violence and terrorism, and only has escalated violence and provided the extremists with more ammunition to pursue their devastating endeavor. Neither in goals nor methods is a "Just War" compatible with occupation and escalating violence. Therefore, this war has no measure of justification in the scale of freedom and justice.

I suggest that the American people be more acutely alarmed by the pernicious policies that are formulated and implemented with the aim of fanning the flames of tribal, sectarian, and ethnic conflict in Iraq. This is perpetrated in order to rationalize the continued presence of occupying forces there. Should this fire be allowed to spread, nothing will be saved. Particularly, it will bring the fledgling democracy in Iraq to its collapse.

Thereby, the yearning of the people in the region for self-determination and attaining acceptable levels of freedom, independence and development will be suffocated by the dark waters of extremism.

The US should avoid the blunder of increasing the number of its troops in Iraq. Rather, as many better-informed politicians have advised, the US should urgently arrange for its troops’ exit from the quagmire it has created.

It is a pity that the proposal I presented to the Secretary General of the United Nations prior to the occupation of Iraq was never accepted. I had earnestly proposed that countries neighboring Iraq should collaborate with the five permanent members of the Security Council and under the direct supervision of the United Nations find a way to remove the cancerous regime of Saddam from our beloved Iraq.

My proposal was rejected because of the conceited intervention on the part of the US but the grave predictions it made regrettably materialized.

Here is what I suggest that we urgently must do:

1) Terminate the occupation, cut off the root cause of conflict, and thereby disarm violent extremism.

2) Strengthen the foundations of democracy in Iraq and support the establishment of security, intelligence, and law and order by the government. We should give the people of Iraq and their popular government the opportunity to base the fledgling democracy in that country on a firm foundation.

3) Engage in a concerted effort at reconstructing Iraq and helping the central government respond to the demands of the oppressed people of Iraq and lay the foundation for development and progress in that country. All this is impossible to achieve without putting an end to occupation and foreign intervention. Especially, ethnic and sectarian separatism must stop.

The US may be able to guarantee its long-term interests–should they be based on justice--by adhering to realism, avoiding delusional fantasies of politicians, and committing to the support of security and development in the region.

Source: On Faith - Newsweek - Washingtonpost

The Rt. Rev John Bryson Chane Travelling to Iran

The Rt. Rev John Bryson Chane is the Episcopal bishop of Washington. He traveled to Iran with the Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalen, bishop of the Episcopal Church's convocation in Europe, Canon John L. Peterson, director the Cathedral College's Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation, and Evan Anderson, the center's deputy director.

By John Bryson Chane

The recent victory of reform-minded candidates in Iran's municipal elections, coming on the heels of the Iranian government's reprehensible conference for Holocaust deniers, neatly symbolizes that country's complex and confounding nature. Which event tells us most about that nation's future course?

I believe Americans and their religious leaders can help shape the answer to this question by establishing relationships with moderate religious leaders in the Islamic Republic. I recently visited Tehran with three other leaders in the Episcopal Church, a trip that deepened my belief that the future of our world hinges on fostering respect and cooperation among the three Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

We traveled to Tehran at the invitation of former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami and the Organization of Culture and Islamic Relations. President Khatami had spoken amidst some controversy at Washington National Cathedral in September. Before his appearance at the cathedral questions were raised about his human rights record and his country's nuclear intentions.

At that time, my colleague, the Cathedral's dean, the Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III noted that Christians are called to a ministry of reconciliation. “If the church is to facilitate healing and transformation,” he said, “it cannot live on the margins of controversy uttering hopeful pieties.

Rather it must immerse itself in the struggles that convulse the human family. Reconciliation requires us to seek partners to take risks to hear what these potential partners say and to examine what they do. And requires us to submit ourselves to the same searching scrutiny.”

Over the course of three days in Tehran, we engaged in intense mutual scrutiny. In candid conversations with top religious and political leaders, we discussed the war in Iraq, the unhelpful rhetoric of both of our presidents, the controversy surrounding Iran's nuclear program and our mutual fears over the volatility of the Middle East. We did not leave these meetings having come to agreement on all of the political issues that divide our two countries, but with the sense that our conversations had been fruitful and friendly, and that we should explore moving beyond dialog and into true partnership.

At the moment, it may be unrealistic to expect that the political leaders of our country to engage in dialog. There is much that divides us, and the political stakes for both nations are frighteningly high. But citizens of these two deeply religious countries may be able to advance the prospects of peace by coming to appreciate the holy books and sacred traditions of the three monotheistic faiths that grew from the soil of the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on how the collective wisdom of these traditions can help us create a more peaceful and secure world.

This endeavor is not without peril. The fragile trust established at the outset of these conversations is easily undermined by events that neither party precipitated, but to which both must respond. The day after I returned from Tehran, news broke about the conference of holocaust deniers. Much as I value the relationships I had begun to cultivate, I was compelled to condemn this conference in the strongest terms. To deny the Holocaust is to demean the memory of the six million who perished, and to belittle the suffering of those who were forever scarred by these deaths. It is to perpetuate the very sort of prejudice that we are attempting to combat in our ongoing interfaith dialog with former President Khatami and others in Tehran.

It was encouraging then, to learn of the strong showing by reformers in this weekend's elections, news that seemed in keeping with the tenor of recent student demonstrations in that country.

Which way will a country poised between extremism and moderation tilt? Much may depend on relationships between politically and theologically moderate Iranians and their counterparts in the West. Through religious and cultural exchanges, can we create a climate of trust, in which the difficult conversations on geopolitical issues can occur?

Those, like myself, who have resolved to cultivate such exchanges run the risk of appearing naïve, of being maneuvered like pawns by masters of realpolitik. But we put nothing at risk beyond our own reputations. And as a Christian, I follow Jesus, who demonstrated little regard for his good name, eating with ministering not only to outcasts, but to his people's enemies.

In this holy season, I pray that the children of Abraham can overcome the temptation to view religion either as a call to arms or an invitation to a world apart, and understand it as the arena in which ordinary Jews, Christians and Muslims can pursue mutual understanding and build the foundations of peace. Wary, yet willing, we must begin.