* Palestinians hit out at "political siege"
* Israel unapologetic for barring states that don't
recognise it
* U.N. says move undermines peace accords
(Adds U.N. official's statement)
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Aug 5 (Reuters) - A meeting of envoys
from the Non-Aligned Movement due to convene in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank was scrapped on Sunday after Israel
refused to admit four attendees from states with which it has no
diplomatic relations, Palestinian officials said.
The envoys were due to sign a declaration backing the
Palestinians ahead of their planned campaign to win recognition
as a state at the United Nations next month.
Israel barred the foreign ministers of Malaysia and
Indonesia along with ambassadors from Cuba and Bangladesh on the
grounds the four countries do not recognise the Jewish state.
Palestinian officials said the other conference guests,
including the foreign ministers of Egypt and Zimbabwe, were
granted clearance to attend but declined in solidarity with the
barred envoys.
"The goal of this decision, which was issued at the highest
political echelons in Israel, is to thwart the efforts of the
Palestinian leadership to achieve more successes for the benefit
of Palestinians and its efforts to end the occupation,"
Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki told reporters.
The Non-Aligned Movement is a diplomatic bloc founded during
the Cold War to advocate the causes of the developing world.
Israel was unapologetic about its decision. "We have cleared
entry for representatives of countries which have diplomatic
relations with Israel and we have not cleared those which do
not," said foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
Israel controls access to the West Bank, which can be
reached via the main checkpoint outside Jerusalem on the road
coming up from Ben Gurion International Airport, or at the
Allenby Bridge over the Jordan River, on the road from Amman.
The United Nations criticised the Israeli action, saying it
undermined the interim peace agreements which entitled
Palestinians to autonomy in a small part of the West Bank,
called Area A.
"Denying the Palestinian Authority the ability to engage
with members of the international community in Area A is yet
another step that contradicts the credibility of the Oslo
arrangements which affirm the Palestinian right of
self-government," Robert Serry, U.N. Special Coordinator for the
Middle East Peace Process, said in a statement.
"NOTHING CONSTRUCTIVE"
The decision to exclude the envoys came a day after the
Palestinian Authority announced it would resume its bid for
statehood recognition at the United Nations, a campaign strongly
opposed by Israel and the United States.
The planned drive for non-member observer status, akin to the
Vatican's, would be an indirect recognition of their claims on
statehood in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. It
would allow them to join a number of U.N. agencies, and the
International Criminal Court.
Once that status was achieved the Palestinians would pursue
full U.N. membership, foreign minister Malki said on Saturday
Israel views Palestinian attempts to bolster their standing
at the United Nations and in other diplomatic bodies as hostile,
saying there is no substitute for direct negotiation in solving
the Middle East conflict.
Hanan Ashrawi of the Palestine Liberation Organization's
executive committee decried Israel's barring of envoys on
Sunday, saying it "exploits its position as an occupying power
to prevent Palestine from communication with the countries of
the world and to isolate the Palestinian people and its
institutions".
She called the Israeli decision "a blatant and crude
exercise of power and a form of political siege".
Twelve envoys belonging to the Non-Aligned Movement's
Palestine Commission were due to convene the meeting in the West
Bank on Sunday, in advance of an annual meeting of the whole
organisation in Iran at the end of the month.
"Nothing constructive, to say the very least, has ever come
out of this committee in the past, and now that it is going to
meet in Iran under the chairmanship of Tehran, expectations
could not be lower," Palmor said. Israel regards Iran as its
number one enemy.
(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Dan
Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Douglas Hamilton and Pravin
Char)