 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 July 1999 Issue No. 439 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 July 1999 Issue No. 439
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Focus Interview Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters 'Wye must be implemented'
PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak held surprise talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Tuesday to discuss recent reports that Israel does not intend to implement last November's Wye Agreement or halt settlement building, reports Nevine Khalil. Since the meeting was arranged only the night before, the two leaders met at the Mubarak Security Academy where the Egyptian president was attending the graduation ceremony.
Mubarak also met briefly with Jordan's Royal Chief of Staff Abdel-Karim Al-Kabariti on Wednesday, who relayed a message from the Jordanian monarch King Abdullah.
Speaking to reporters following the Mubarak-Arafat meeting, Foreign Minister Amr Moussa was very critical of recent reports that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak may backtrack on agreements signed by the previous Israeli government and pursue settlement-building policies. "Wye must be implemented without any tricks or procrastination," Moussa said, drawing parallels with Israel's previous government under Binyamin Netanyahu. "These matters will deal a blow to the credibility of both the peace process, and the political process as a whole," the minister told reporters after the meeting. "These signals are in conflict with what we had hoped and understood."
Mubarak's chief political adviser Osama El-Baz said that Barak's recent meetings, which took him first to Egypt, then Jordan and the US, aimed to "remove Israel from its isolation from its neighbours and the world community" after Netanyahu's three-year tenure. "Barak needs a few weeks to formulate his policy on commitments made in the Wye and Hebron agreements, as well as on putting an end to settlement building, and the Syrian and Lebanese tracks," El-Baz said.
Mubarak and Arafat also discussed the Syrian and Lebanese tracks, "which could be vulnerable to similar action" by the Israeli government, according to Moussa. "Already there is some suspicion that there will be no progress at all on the peace tracks," he said. "We want to be assured that the agreements will be implemented and that settlement building will stop."
Regional and international consultations will be undertaken in the next few days, and are expected to result in "political moves as soon as we formulate our exact position".
Barak had also said that he wants the US role to be downsized to that of a "mediator" in the Middle East process, but Moussa does not believe that Washington's role can be reduced. "The important point is that this role is carried out in a way which is both honest and objective," he said.
