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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 April 2000 Issue No. 477 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 April 2000 Issue No. 477
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Racing the clock
By Nevine Khalil
For three consecutive days this week, President Hosni Mubarak met with the main players in the stalled Middle East peace process to sound out their positions. On Monday, Mubarak held a one-on-one meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak that lasted over one hour during a brief stopover the latter made on his way to Washington for a meeting with US President Bill Clinton.
A day earlier, Mubarak spoke with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who reported that the ongoing talks between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators near Washington were only "chats and not real negotiations". On Saturday, Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad sent a message to Mubarak with his Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Sharaa detailing Damascus' position and feedback on ideas to re-launch the Syrian-Israeli track of negotiations. Al-Sharaa expressed his country's "full support" for a "complete and unconditional" Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, accompanied by "solutions for the issue of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon".
With Mubarak, Al-Sharaa reviewed the situation on all three negotiating tracks, the Geneva meeting between Assad and Clinton last month and the planned unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon. Al-Sharaa expressed disbelief that Tel Aviv would actually carry out the withdrawal, saying that Israel was "mocking the world community".
After one hour of talks, Al-Sharaa told reporters that Israel is required to "provide an official document of its intentions". He also said that Damascus was puzzled that Washington awaits Assad's response to the Geneva summit. "We were surprised that Clinton believes the ball is in our court," Al-Sharaa said. "We believe the ball is in Israel's court". He added that Clinton presented Assad with "Israeli ideas" which were unacceptable to the Syrians. He noted that the US "will shoulder part of the responsibility if it supports Israel in a way that does not achieve a just and comprehensive peace".
For three consecutive days, Mubarak met with Al-Sharaa, Arafat, and Barak
US ambassador to Cairo Daniel Kurtzer said this week that Clinton was "a negotiator, not a mailman," who went to Geneva with a "package deal" which the Syrians should think about.
Cairo, too, does not believe that "the door is closed" on the Syrian track, according to Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. During talks with Barak, Mubarak voiced concern for the dismal situation on all tracks of the peace process, urging Barak to make progress soon.
"We have to move as quickly as possible," Moussa told reporters later. "We are at the 11th hour". He expressed hope that the Washington talks between Clinton and Barak on Tuesday, as well as those scheduled on 20 April between Clinton and Arafat, would "succeed and move [negotiations] in the right direction".
During talks with Arafat on Sunday, Mubarak was briefed about Israel's settlement policies, which threaten to derail final status negotiations once they begin. "Israel's settlement building is very disconcerting and [constitutes] a major obstacle on the Palestinian track," Moussa said. Arafat also complained that no progress was being made at the Washington talks between the Palestinians and Israelis. "These conversations should have taken place earlier because now we are at a stage in which we should reach a framework agreement and implement what was signed in the past."
Moussa stressed that "all is not well on the Palestinian track" and, taking it further, said that there was, in fact, "a crisis on all tracks". He added that "many hopes for new [Israeli] policies are quickly being lost", because, at this stage, the peace process should be nearing its final stages.
After talks with Arafat, Mubarak held a meeting with his top foreign policy aides to chart Cairo's next moves and brainstorm on ways of removing obstacles hindering progress on all tracks. Egypt's position is based on the land-for-peace formula, UN resolutions and the necessity of implementing signed agreements.
The meeting also discussed Cairo's evaluation of the US-Syrian Geneva talks in light of the message received from Assad a day earlier, Mubarak's telephone conversation with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon and Beirut's perspective on what form this withdrawal should take.
