1. I had two interesting meetings today. In the morning, I co-chaired the annual meeting between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC, consisting of Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait) and ASEAN. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud gave a clear, insightful analysis of the Middle East. He could not stress enough the importance of achieving a peace settlement in Palestine. That was the key to peace in the Middle East. As for Iraq, he saw a problem in the new federal constitution which would lead to a fragmentation of the country. He worried deeply about civil war sucking in all the countries around. My Co-Chair, Sheikh Abdullah of the UAE agreed with me that we should raise GCC-ASEAN relations to a higher level. The Secretary Generals of ASEAN and the GCC will now meet to discuss this.
2. In the afternoon, I met representatives of the American Jewish Committee which has considerable influence in US politics. I meet them every year in NY during the UN General Assembly. Two years ago, I was honoured to speak at their annual dinner in Washington DC. We talked about the Lebanon War, Iran and terrorism. I gave my frank views. They were aware that Israel has a bad PR problem in the world. At the Non-Aligned Meeting in Havana, the general view of Israel was very negative. As for Iran, I said that war was not an option. I saw in some of Iran's latest moves (the former President Khatami visiting Thomas Jefferson's house in Monticello and President Ahmedinejad meeting the US Council of Foreign Relations in NY) an attempt to engage. It is a proud country with a long history and has to be treated with respect. On terrorism, I briefed them on the good work done by our ulamas in the Religious Rehabilitation Group.
3. In both meetings, both our Arab and Jewish friends separately mentioned that Singapore's neighbourhood in Southeast Asia is much better than the one in the Middle East. We have to be grateful for this.
George Yeo
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