Women Leaders - Networking for Peace and Security in the Middle East

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International Conference on 30-31 May 2007 in Vienna

"Women Leaders - Networking for Peace and Security in the Middle East"

A two-day conference uniting international women leaders in Vienna will aim at further establishing women's role in the Middle East peace process.

The conference brings together women in leading positions in politics, media, business and civil society. Participating in the main round table discussion will be, among others, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Hannan Ashrawi, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Sheikah Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, President of the UN General Assembly.

Three workshops will discuss the role of the media, civil society, and the important field of business and education in the region.

The organizers cautioned however that the conference was not meant as a new attempt at developing a Middle-East roadmap for peace, but as a starting point for increased dialogue.

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Jerusalem, June 1 (PTI): Israeli Foreign Minister, Tsipi Livni, has met Pakistani Minister for Women Development, Sumaira Malik, on the sidelines of a conference of world women leaders in Vienna, a media report here said.

The two leaders spoke informally and warmly in the lounge, Ha'aretz online reported.

Pakistan and the Jewish State do not have diplomatic relations, but officials from both the countries are said to maintain contacts at various UN forums.

The two leaders discussed the need to broaden the range of nations who supported and aided the political process in the Middle East, and to include Islamic nations such as Pakistan and Indonesia, rather than keep it limited to the Arab nations, it said.

"The whole world's involvement in the peace process should be strengthened," the Pakistani minister was quoted as saying.

Pakistani Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, and former Israeli Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom, also met in a very publicised meeting in 2005 in Turkey, raising speculations towards normalisation of ties.

Protests from religious fundamentalists in Pakistan, however, forced the Pakistani administration to backtrack making it conditional on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf recently offered to mediate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it was politely turned down by both sides.

Livni also met with Iraq's first lady, Hero Ibrahim Ahmed Talabani.

Talabani and Livni spent several minutes discussing the peace process while they participated in a panel on the topic, the web site of the daily said.

The Israeli Foreign Minister reportedly briefed the Iraq's first lady on the situation faced by the southern Israeli communities which have been battered by Palestinian rocket attacks, it said.

"There is much better understanding that Middle Eastern politics is not a zero-sum game," Livni told the panel. "Nations in the region face common threats," she added.

The Israeli Foreign Minister also commended the Arab League's initiative which is aimed at normalising relations with Israel.

"Normalising relations now will help advance the political process," she said.

The conference entitled 'Women Leaders Networking for Peace and Security in the Middle East' was initiated by Austrian Foreign Minister, Ursula Plassnik.

Several other prominent women leaders, including former president of the United Nations General Assembly, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain, Palestinian representative Dr Hanan Ashrawi and Minister for Scientific Research Souad Bendjaballah of Algeria participated in the conference.