In complete violation of previous assurances it had given to Forum organizers, the Spanish Foreign Ministry did not respect the integrity, independent and democratic nature of the Madrid Forum. Negating the participatory work and consensual decisions of the Forum’s organizing committees, the Spanish Foreign Ministry invited to the Forum its own delegation of Israelis, bypassing committee decisions and the Forum’s own elected delegation from Israel. This delegation was composed of Israeli groups unwilling to endorse the Forum’s own reference document, a mandatory step for all other participants from throughout the world. This blatant intervention led, on 12 December, to the boycott of this event by the Palestinian delegation and in its wake, the withdrawal of the delegations from Israel and other Arab countries.
Spanish police are currently (noon Spanish time, on 15 December) guarding the entrance to the Forum, and it is unclear who is in attendance. A large group of protesters, including Palestinian, Israeli and Spanish delegates who refuse to participate in the Forum as currently constructed, are being kept out of the Forum venue.
To read the article, click here: http://www.alternativenews.org/news/english/aic-denounces-continued-intervention-in-forum-for-a-just-peace-in-the-middle-east-20071215.html