News, May 2003, Al-Jazeerah.info
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GCC call for talks on disputed Gulf islands get Iranian rebuttal
Jordan Times, 5/29/03
TEHRAN (AFP) — A call by the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the United Arab Emirates and Iran to resolve a territorial row over three tiny Gulf islands was squarely rejected by Iran on Wednesday. According to IRNA, GCC head Abdul Rahman Ben Hamad Al Atiyyah called on Iran to discuss the status of what he called "the Emirate islands" during a meeting here of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) foreign ministers, or else see the dispute taken to the International Court of Justice. But Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi complained that "the controversial topic(s) which also were not on the conference agenda should not be raised in this meeting." And foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi bemoaned that "at a time when the Islamic world is under mounting pressure, it is better not to talk about these subjects in these meetings." He also referred to the dispute as a "fringe issue." Iran gained control of three islands — Greater Tonbs, Lesser Tonbs and Abu-Musa — after British forces left the Gulf in 1971. The islands are situated roughly halfway between the Iranian port of Bandar-e Langeh and Dubai in the UAE.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |