by Bob Boynton
The Arab League met in summit at Riyadh. The business was re-invigorating the peace process. US Secretary of State Rice seems determined to get some motion — going to the Saudis to encourage them to become active produced the meeting and King Abdullah re-tabled the 2000 Arab initiative that Israel has summarily dismissed in the past.
But if you read all the way to the bottom of the Aljazeera report these are the final three paragraphs.
The Bahraini president of the UN General Assembly became the first woman to address an Arab summit on Wednesday as she took the podium at the opening session in Riyadh.
Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa was the first woman to address an annual summit of the 22-member Arab League since the bloc was formed in 1945.
The 53-year-old was one of the first women to practise law in Bahrain, where she defended women before Islamic sharia courts.
A woman speaking to the Arab League seems like a big deal — at least it does to me. So where is her photograph?
That looks like King Abdullah to me.
Well, she is president of the UN General Assembly. That is not head of state, but it is an important office. Perhaps she was photographed as part of a group.
There are the good old boys — Sheik on one side and Assad on the other. But no president of the General Assembly.
Interpretation
Perhaps my view that this was an important event is mis-placed. BBC World covered the meeting, but did not mention the talk by the “first woman to address” an Arab League meeting since its founding in 1945.
CNN World did not even cover the meeting.
I think I will stick with my view.
News Report
