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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Focus Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Affirming Franco-Egyptian ties
By Nevine Khalil
Cairo and Paris agreed this week that the Palestinian decision to postpone the declaration of statehood beyond 4 May was a wise move. The two countries also decided to keep a Franco-Egyptian initiative for reviving the peace process on the back-burner.
Jospin and Mubarak
During talks on Sunday between President Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, Egypt and France informed the Palestinian leader that he was right to delay the declaration of a Palestinian state, and recommended a "wait-and-see" approach until the outcome of Israeli elections is clear.
Arafat had joined the two leaders for lunch, and later held separate talks with Mubarak to discuss the Palestinian decision as well as future moves along the Palestinian-Israeli track of negotiations. The talks were the first between Mubarak and Arafat since last week's decision by the PLO's Central Council to defer declaring statehood beyond 4 May, which marks the end of the interim arrangements spawned by the Oslo process. Last Thursday's decision was made because the declaration could influence the outcome of Israeli elections, scheduled for 17 May.
Mubarak and Arafat exchanged views on "the various possibilities and ways of maintaining Egyptian-Palestinian coordination on reviving the peace process", said Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. He added that there was "international satisfaction" with the postponement decision, affirming that a wait-and-see approach was necessary in order "to know who will lead Israeli politics in the next term".
From Cairo, Arafat headed for Copenhagen on Monday to lobby officials there on the Palestinians' right to self-determination and the necessity for the Israelis to implement signed agreements.
Jospin told Arafat that France supports the Palestinians' right to their own state, describing the Palestinian leadership's postponement decision as "wise". He expressed hope that the peace process would be revived "with greater vigour and confidence following the Israeli elections". If that failed, he said, Egypt and France could reactivate a joint peace initiative launched in May 1998.
Mubarak and French President Jacques Chirac had proposed an international peace conference to revive the stalled process, but both said that they would call for the conference only if Washington failed to achieve progress. "It is up to President Mubarak and President Chirac to decide the fate of the initiative," Jospin told a news conference. "We will see how the peace process will develop after the Israeli elections. The initiative can always be useful."
Moussa said that there is "agreement and coordination" between Egypt and France on regional peace-making, and Jospin said that Egypt showed "realism and wisdom" in dealing with the situation in the Middle East.
On his first visit since taking office in 1997, Jospin came to Cairo to boost Franco-Egyptian economic ties and inaugurate the FranceExpo '99 exhibition. During almost two hours of talks, Mubarak and Jospin also focused on the situation in another hotspot, the Balkans. The two leaders agreed that a diplomatic solution is the best way to resolve the conflict.
Addressing a news conference, Jospin defended NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia, which began on 24 March without UN authorisation, saying that the situation in Kosovo "constituted an emergency". He added that the NATO strikes did not set a precedent which would undermine the UN. "We didn't want to declare war on Serbia, but to strike at the military potential of Serbia, to stop the Serbian repression in Kosovo and to bring Serbian authorities to the negotiating table," he said.
Jospin attempted to allay fears that NATO was taking over the role of the UN, arguing that the former "cannot replace the UN and must work under its aegis because the UN alone has the legitimacy to establish international law". Jospin affirmed that the time would come for the UN to be involved. "It is under UN auspices that a diplomatic solution will be found in Kosovo," he said.
The French prime minister, who arrived in Cairo after visiting Albania and Macedonia, said that both countries were hard hit by the influx of refugees from Kosovo. He added that France would do "all it can" to ensure that the refugee problem was only temporary and that the Kosovars would be allowed to return to their homes.
On compliance with the NATO-EU oil embargo against Yugoslavia, Jospin said that each country outside the EU "has the right to take the decision which best serves its interest". Russia has already said that it will not comply with the oil embargo since NATO decisions only apply to member-states.
