In a considerably heated discussion, Kadoumi spoke passionately about the state of Palestine, condemning the Israeli government for what he called acts of terror. Finally, a reporter asked him about sustainable development, to which he responded, "Unless the Israelis leave us alone, there can be no chance of sustainable development for Palestine."

Palestine's noteworthy presence at WSSD was contrasted with the very poor representation by the rest of the Arab region. In fact--apart from King Mohammed VI of Morroco, Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammad Al-Sharqi, Ruler of the Emirate of Fujeira, and Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of Algeria--Arab states were represented by, at most, one minister from each country. This could account for the disproportionate Palestinian voice at the conference.

However, the official delegates that did represent the region did not, in fact, present Palestine as a central issue. The sustainable development initiative in the Arab region, presented the first Wednesday of the conference by Fatma S. El Mallah, Director of the Department of Environment and Sustainable Development and head of the delegation of the League of Arab States, and Shafqat Kakakel, Deputy Executive Director, UN Environment Programme, among others, proposed a regional approach to deal with a broad range of issues such as peace and security, poverty alleviation, population and health, education, scientific research, technology transfer, resource management, production and consumption, and globalization.

El Mallah and Kakakel stressed the importance of developing the region without sacrificing its cultural values, and called for the support of partnership initiatives between developing and industrial countries, and between states, civil society and the private sector in what Kakakel described as an "integrated approach to sustainable development."