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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 28 Oct. - 3 Nov. 1999 Issue No. 453
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Study Special Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
Right of return
FOREIGN Minister Amr Moussa flew to Gaza yesterday for a one day meeting with his Jordanian counterpart Abdel-Ilah Al-Khatib and Palestinian Minister of Planning Nabil Shaath.The meeting is intended to co-ordinate the positions of the three Arab member states of the four country committee, established under the terms of the Oslo agreement to examine the issue of Palestinians displaced following the 1967 War.
According to Moussa the meeting will also initiate contacts with the Israeli side in an attempt to kick-start the work of the committee after an extended hiatus.
Under the Sharm Al-Sheikh protocols the committee is supposed to meet to try and settle issues arising from post-'67 displacement.
Many observers look to the Gaza meeting as an important first step in the attempt to secure the right to return to their homes for those Palestinians forced out following the Israeli occupation. It is also seen as paving the way for tackling the much thornier issue of the right of return for refugees, a key item of final status talks.
The refugee committee, which is one of the five functions of the multilateral talks, is itself expected to meet, at expert level, before the end of the year.
Reaffirming Egypt's role
A DELEGATION of the US Council on Foreign Relations, headed by Henry Seigman, was in Egypt this week as part of a regional tour. Seigman, an old hand in Middle Eastern affairs, discussed with Foreign Minister Amr Moussa the future of Arab-Israeli peace.Following the meeting, Seigman told reporters that the aim of the visit was "basically to reaffirm to senior officials in the Egyptian government the importance we attach to the Egyptian role in the success of the peace process as it moves along."
Seigman said despite the good intentions that all concerned parties might have, the peace process was bound to face many problems along the road. "It is simply inconceivable that without Egypt's leadership these problems would be overcome."
Seigman warned of the unhealthy impact of the Jewish settlement policy being adopted by the current Israeli government. "I believe that settlements are completely inconsistent with the written agreements, and more important, with the whole spirit of the peace process. If that is not clearly understood, then there is really very little hope for the peace process."
Partnership on the agenda
THE SIGNING ceremony of a partnership agreement between Egypt and the European Union may not be that far off after all. The new government is currently busy looking into the text of the agreement to give the go-ahead for the signing. "The concerned ministers are working on the agreement," said Foreign Minister Amr Moussa on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, Moussa met with the visiting Italian Minister of Trade Piero Facino. The Egypt-EU partnership was high on the agenda as the two officials reviewed the future economic relations between the European and non-European states of the Mediterranean. The Egypt-EU partnership "is a very important agreement," Facino said, "Italy is interested in implementing it." Moussa and Facino also discussed bilateral economic co-operation between Cairo and Rome.
Accompanying the visiting official was a sizeable business delegation who met with members of the Egyptian business community to discuss the potentials for future cooperation. "We are working to have closer and closer cooperation between Italy and Egypt, not only in the interest of the two countries but also for the interest of the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue," Facino added.
Nasserists proliferate
A "70s GENERATION" group belonging to the Nasserist Party officially applied on Monday for a new party called Al-Karama, or Dignity. Led by Press Syndicate board member Hamdi Sabahi, the founders to-be are former leading members of the Nasserist Party, including Amin Iskandar and Kamal Abu Aita, former Secretary-General of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) Mohamed Moneib, cinema director Khaled Youssef and several businessmen.
Apparently ready for the expected media attention, Sabahi held a press conference after applying for the party, explaining the objectives of his platform at length. "Al-Karama seeks to end the age of battles between factions of the political movement and various ideological sects," he said. According to Sabahi, the would-be founders number 160 and come from 21 governorates. Four are former members of the Nasserist Party's secretariat.
Al-Karama's platform, El-Sabahi said, focuses primarily on the "necessity for change -- not by coups like the 1952 July Revolution, or by violence and arms as some political Islamist groups have resorted to, but through peaceful democratic struggle."
The platform also calls for the freedom to establish political parties and publish newspapers in addition to the "necessity of achieving comprehensive political reform and resisting normalisation [with Israel] and Western hegemony."
Fast on Sabahi's heels, Farid Abdel-Karim, another Nasserist renegade, is expected to apply for a party called National Salvation in the Shura Council's Political Parties Committee this week.
Thwarted reform
THE PREPARATORY Committee for the Constitutional and Political Reform Conference (PCCPRC) issued a statement this week addressed to the recently formed cabinet. "Public opinion and democratic forces were very disappointed at the absence of political and constitutional reform from the agenda of the new cabinet," it said. "Instead, the new era began by arresting a group of current and former leading members of professional syndicates with the aim of affecting the coming syndicate elections," the statement added.
The statement is the first of its kind issued by the committee, formed in September by a large number of intellectuals and rights groups with the aim of drumming up grassroots support which would call for political and constitutional reform.
The committee's first statement was sent to President Hosni Mubarak and signed by the leaders of the Wafd, Labour, Nasserist and Tagammu parties a few weeks before the 26 September Presidential Referendum. The committee held its first public rally last month at the headquarters of the Tagammu Party that was boycotted by both the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic-oriented Labour Party. Spokesmen for the committee said a major public rally will be held in January.
Among the committee's demands is the abrogation of the state of emergency, the release of all political detainees, guarantees that parliamentary elections will be free and fair, the establishment of political parties freely, the freedom to publish newspapers and own media outlets and that professional syndicates and non-governmental organisations are given full independence. They also suggested that the president be elected for no more than two consecutive terms. Their demands were met by silence from the authorities. "This doubled the disappointment," the statement said.
Addressing the new cabinet's economy plan, the statement said current economic policy had entered a stage "which should be assessed by the people." Moreover, it warned that the priorities of the new economic policy "should not impose new burdens on Egyptians." The statement had more to say: "overcoming the negative social repercussions of this policy -- poverty, unemployment and the deterioration of basic services -- cannot be done without an active civil society free from administrative restraints."
