Arab states silent over Iran president’s anti- Israel remarks

CAIRO — Ignoring the world’s condemnation, hundreds of thousands of Iranians planned to pour into Tehran’s streets to support their new president’s call to destroy Israel.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comment that Israel should be wiped off the map left Arab governmentswith the unhappy choice Thursday of allowing his extremism to stand unchallenged, or risk worsening relations with Iran and appearing foe.

But analysts said Arab countries were likely to be pleased that the speech would probably undermine Iran’s negotiations with Europe over its nuclear program — as most have no desire to see it become a regional nuclear power.

“ The Arab governmentswill never issue a statement, but they are happy that he ( Ahmadinejad) proved the Iranians are not rational,” said Dubai-based analyst Mustafa Alani, explaining the silence from the Arab capitals. to support their traditional

In a speech Wednesday, Ahmadinejad said a new wave of Palestinian attacks against Israel “ will wipe this stigma from the face of the Islamic world.” Citing the founder of the Islamic revolution, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Ahmadinejad said: “ Israel must be wiped off the map.”

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians were expected to back Ahmadinejad’s comments in protests in Tehran and across the country today during the annual al-Quds Day, when Iranians protest Israel’s control over Jerusalem.

Newspapers across the Middle East reported the speech without comment, many of them on their front pages. In Iran, some papers carried coverage of the subsequent protests from other countries.

In Cairo, Mohammed Wahby, a former diplomat and member of the Egyptian Council on Foreign Affairs, said it was a mistake for the Arab world to remain quiet about the speech, which he said undermined Mideast peace prospects.

“ Recognizing Israel as an integral part of the Middle East is no longer in any doubt,” Wahby said, saying Iran was only encouraging on both sides.

Mustafa Hamarneh, head of the Strategic Studies Center at the University of Jordan, agreed that Ahmadinejad was out of step with other Mideast nations, and especially with the Palestinians. “ He’s an ideologue who shot from the cuff; it was not a studied statement,” Hamarneh said.

Wahby said Ahmadinejad’s threats were counterproductive to his country’s interests, since it reinforced skepticism over Iran’s claims that its nuclear program aimed at hardliners peaceful power generation and not for nuclear weapons.

“ Such a statement by Tehran will encourage Israel to cling to its nuclear arsenal,” Wahby said.

Alani, an analyst from the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, said Arab states will see Ahmadinejad’s speech as showing up the Iranian regime to be “ illogical, irrational.”

He said the Iranian presidentwas embracing positions other Arabs had long abandoned.

“ Now they laugh at such statements,” he said. “They are just emptywords.”