Arabs cool to U.S. democracy initiative

Arab countries yesterday offered a mixed response to the $29 million initiative to foster democracy in the Middle East, with some saying the key to the region's problems is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Egypt, one of Washington's closest allies, offered the harshest criticism of the plan unveiled Thursday amid heavy fanfare by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

A Dubai-based Arab political analyst said that the U.S. initiative should have first focussed on solving the major issue the Middle East has been suffering from for more than 50 years, which is the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"The Israeli occupation of the Arab lands and the United States bias towards Israel is the source of most problems in the region. Hence, all efforts should be directed to have a peaceful settlement to this conflict first," he said.