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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 July 1999 Issue No. 437 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 July 1999 Issue No. 437
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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 Focus Books Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters A window of opportunity
By Nevine KhalilPresident Hosni Mubarak had a busy week, as he consulted with key players in the Middle East peace process, jet-setting between Washington, Paris and Algiers. Mubarak also spoke by telephone with the leaders of Syria and Jordan, and met in Cairo with both Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.
The principal thrust of the diplomatic effort was to compare notes on the prospects of reviving regional peace-making, and secure a united position on the priorities to be impressed upon new Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. In talks with US President Bill Clinton in Washington last Thursday, France's Jacques Chirac in Paris and Algerian President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika in Algiers on Saturday and telephone conversations with Jordan's King Abdullah and Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad, as well as a meeting with Arafat on Tuesday, opinions converged that Barak's top priority had be a series of confidence-building steps that could restore the necessary credibility to the peace process.
These include the immediate implementation of last November's Wye agreement, the halting of Jewish settlement construction, the re-launching of all three tracks of the negotiations -- Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese -- as soon as possible, and preferably simultaneously. Mubarak will be meeting with Assad in Cairo soon, and will hold talks with Barak in Alexandria tomorrow.
Asked by Al-Ahram Weekly how soon Washington would be sending special envoy Dennis Ross back to the region, US Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk said that it will depend on the outcome of Barak's talks with Clinton. Barak is expected to visit Washington on 16 July. "We will talk with him, and then we will assess what the next step should be," Indyk said, "whether it's visits to the region or other visits here [in Washington]."
Peres visited Cairo only hours before Barak was sworn in as prime minister. During Peres' tenure as both prime minister and foreign minister, Palestinian track negotiations opened in Oslo in 1993 resulting in a breakthrough agreement, a Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty was signed in 1994, and constructive talks were underway with the Syrians until early 1996.
After briefing Egyptian officials on Barak's agenda, Peres told reporters that the incoming Israeli cabinet is "a government of peace. It will not take too long before we see the renewal of the peace process."
Peres, an architect of regional integration, claimed "very good knowledge" of the new prime minister's peace agenda, because Barak had worked under Peres as foreign minister in 1996.
"I know Barak very well," Peres said. "He is a man of his word and he will do what he has said." Peres described the chances for peace as "better than ever before", and that "there is a clear majority for peace in [the new] government."
Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, for his part, believes that Peres' hopes are "always high and too optimistic". Moussa said that the present optimism is based merely on the fact that "the rule of a hardline right-wing [Israeli] government has come to an end". For him, "what is more important than the composition of the Israeli government, are the policies which the new government will pursue."
With Arafat, Mubarak consulted on future strategies in the peace process, discussing various options and prospects. Mubarak also briefed the Palestinian president on the results of his visits to the US and France.
Cairo, Washington and Paris all agree that the peace process is in desperate need of rejuvenation after having stagnated for three long years during the tenure of outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. They also believe that there is a window of opportunity for real progress on all tracks following Barak's rise to power. Clinton, who will leave office next year, now has to work fast if he is to take any credit for whatever positive results may be reached on any of the negotiating tracks.
It appears, however, that the US proposal to host a four- or even five-way summit, which would bring together delegates from Israel, Palestine, Jordan and perhaps Egypt, is temporarily on hold. "The Washington summit is only an idea; there is nothing specific on the table right now," Moussa said.
The US is eager to reactivate the Syrian track, because it appears to be the only way of resolving the Lebanese stalemate and getting Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon. Indyk, commending Damascus' current position, said that Assad "had made clear on numerous occasions that it is Syria's strategic choice to seek a comprehensive peace with Israel." He told reporters during Mubarak's visit last week that Assad's recent praise of the new Israeli leadership as "honest, sincere and committed to peace", as well as "messages" in the ongoing six-month dialogue between Washington and Damascus, indicate that Assad is "keen to engage with the new government".
Syria's sentiments were also discussed at the Paris meeting between Mubarak and Chirac. The Syrian and Lebanese tracks were given special attention, with the two leaders agreeing that although an Israeli troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon was necessary, it should not be carried out separately from progress in negotiations with Syria.
Mubarak and Chirac agreed to be optimistic in anticipating progress in the peace process as a whole. "I am very optimistic that negotiations will progress on the remaining tracks," Mubarak told a joint news conference.
One joint proposal that would seem to have irrevocably taken a backseat for the time being is last year's Franco-Egyptian initiative to organise a "peace-saving" summit. The proposal was put forward at a time when the peace process was crippled by the intransigence of the Likud government. "I think there is no place for this initiative now," Mubarak said in Paris. "It will not have a raison d'ètre until [Barak] has been given ample time to establish contact with the three [remaining] Arab parties."
Mubarak described as "excellent" his talks in the US, where he got an opportunity to strengthen relations between Cairo and both the administration and Congress. Moussa said that during Mubarak's visit, the points of agreement between Cairo and Washington "far surpassed" the areas of difference.
Counting on close ties with Paris, Mubarak's foreign trip also aimed at conveying Algeria's viewpoint to the West. For years, Algeria has been plagued by domestic terrorism and power conflicts. Mubarak discussed the new conditions in Algeria with Chirac, with the intention of cooling the tempers of the two regimes.
During a brief stopover in Algiers on the way back home last Saturday, Mubarak held talks with Bouteflika, who later thanked the Egyptian leader for his good offices. "I am grateful for what you have conveyed from the capitals which [otherwise] misunderstood conditions in Algeria," Bouteflika said in a letter to Mubarak.
