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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454
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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 Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Cairo unimpressed by Oslo photo op
By Dina EzzatEgypt chose to absent itself from the meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process taking place this week in Oslo. And yet, Cairo continues to be actively involved in what some diplomats describe as "maintaining the right framework for a final settlement."
"Egypt has decided not to take part in the Oslo summit... we think that the focus now should be on the three-way meeting, taking place there, that will bring together US President Bill Clinton, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister [Ehud Barak]," said Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. "This meeting could well be a step along the way to completing the implementation of the Wye commitments and resuming the much delayed final status talks."
From the very beginning, Cairo was luke-warm about the summit, hosted by the Norwegian government on the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. It took Egypt over three weeks to react to the idea -- eventually expressing regrets.
But why was Cairo unenthusiastic? "This has nothing to do with enthusiasm or lack of enthusiasm," said Moussa. "We did not think that we needed to be there at this point."
One reason behind the Egyptian decision to stay away from Oslo is the fact that, according to one source within the foreign ministry, "it seems to be just one more meeting. Egypt is not keen on being party to media events. We want to do what may be useful for the Palestinian cause".
This is not the first time Egypt has opted to stay away from a "major" Palestinian-Israeli event. In October 1998, Cairo did not take part in the marathon Wye Plantation talks that brought together Clinton, Arafat, former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the late Jordanian monarch King Hussein. A few months earlier, Egypt was absent from a Washington summit grouping the same four leaders.
The rationale offered by Cairo then is being repeated now: "Egypt only takes part when it believes that something viable, and in the interests of the Palestinian cause, will emerge. Otherwise, we would rather pass it".
This is not to say that Cairo is adopting a policy of missing meetings in pursuit of a Palestinian-Israeli settlement. Late last week in Gaza, Egypt was present at a three-way meeting with the Palestinians and Jordanians, on the right of displaced Palestinians to return home.
Heading the Egyptian delegation was Foreign Minister Moussa. Moussa, his Jordanian counterpart Abdel-Ilah Al-Khatib, and Palestinian Minister of Planning Nabil Shaath coordinated the positions of the three Arab member-states of a four-country committee (that also includes Israel), established under the terms of the Oslo agreement to examine the issue of Palestinians displaced following the 1967 war.
Under the Sharm Al-Sheikh protocols, this four-party committee was supposed to meet in early October to settle issues arising from the post-67 displacement. This meeting was intended to take place in Cairo. However, Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy spurned the proposal. Israel, instead, began a verbal offensive against Egypt and suggested a meeting at experts level.
"The experts did meet. We now believe it is time to work on the four-way ministerial meeting to deliberate on the issue of the displaced in accordance with [what was agreed upon in] Sharm Al-Sheikh," Moussa said.
Indeed, the communiqué following the Gaza meeting called on Israel to come to a four-party meeting as soon as possible. Israel has not yet responded.
Since its establishment in 1993, the four-party committee on the displaced has met only once -- in Amman in 1995. When, or if, it meets again in Cairo this month, its task is likely to be further complicated by the absence of any agreed Palestinian-Israeli definition of displacement. The Palestinians, together with all other Arab countries, insist on applying all the relevant UN literature, including Security Council Resolution 237, sanctioning the right of return.
As a preparatory step to the four-party meeting last week in Gaza, Egypt and Jordan pledged to help the Palestinians in their search for accurate information on the number and distribution of the displaced. Rough estimates vary from 350,000 to 900,000.
Neither Syria nor Lebanon, both of which host large numbers of Palestinians, is a member of the relevant committees since they have not signed any peace deal with Israel. However, both countries should be approached by the four-party committee through the concerned international organisations.
According to Cairo, the Gaza meeting was "important" in as much as it showed Arab political support for the Palestinians' efforts to secure the return of the displaced.
