Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 October 2000 Issue No. 503
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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'We will not be bullied'

By Nevine Khalil

Diplomatic developments in the region moved at a breath-taking pace this week as violence escalated in the Palestinian territories. Plans for summit conferences were rumoured then cancelled, aggressive statements were made then retracted, hot-line telephones buzzed across the globe, and threats flew left, right and centre. All this took place, against a backdrop of over 100 Palestinians dead and some 2,000 injured in bloody clashes with Israeli security forces and Jewish settlers.

The sparks ignited just as Egypt, the first country to sign peace with Israel, was celebrating the 27th anniversary of the last all-out war in the region between the Arabs and Israel. Talk of war was quick to sweep the streets, but President Hosni Mubarak has been adamant in ruling out the possibility of full-scale armed conflict in the region. Responding to reported calls for war against Israel by Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh, Mubarak said, "Talk of going to war is for domestic consumption and soliciting applause from the masses. It is nonsense."

After he met with members of the Armed Forces on the occasion of the 1973 October war celebrations, Mubarak told reporters that "Those who call for war have not suffered its consequences. War is not a simple word and it is very difficult to take a decision to go to war. No leader can take this decision alone, without consulting with his people first."

Mubarak counselled that the conflict in the Middle East will not come to an end in the battlefield, but rather through rational thinking. "It is time to be serious and logical," he said. "If there's a will to make peace, there will be a way." He added that "neither Israel nor its neighbours could carry the burden of war. Even the states which would support them in such an endeavour would get bored eventually."

As the crisis intensified without let-up, Cairo thrust ahead with preparations for the 21-22 October extraordinary Arab summit which it will host. Mubarak said that "there is no more pressing a time than this to hold an Arab summit." Pinning much hope on the outcome of the summit, the president was able within a few days to whip up consensus among Arab leaders, who have not met since 1996. But he was unyielding to calls in Arab ranks for tough decisions of economic boycott or even war against Israel. "It won't be a matter of muscle-flexing," he said in response to Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi's suggestion to declare war on Israel at the summit. "No one should pre-impose decisions on the summit," noted Mubarak. "We have to take decisions based on what the foreign ministers will discuss ahead of the summit."

Foreign Minister Amr Moussa interrupted a trip to Syria and Turkey early in the week because "things have become a bit serious and we need to consult on what steps to take next," he told reporters, as he cut short his visit to Ankara. In Damascus, Moussa held talks with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to discuss, among other issues, the capture on Saturday of three Israeli soldiers by Hizbullah in Lebanon.

Cairo reasoned that had the Israelis kept their side of the bargain to release Lebanese prisoners after withdrawing from south Lebanon, Hizbullah would not have captured the three Israeli soldiers. "Although we are against the principle of kidnapping, we believe that since Israel kidnapped Lebanese, Hizbullah captured the Israeli soldiers in return," Mubarak said on Sunday.

Tel Aviv vowed retaliation against Damascus and Beirut if the soldiers are not handed over, but these threats sounded hollow, especially after Egypt pledged to "stand by Syria if it is attacked by Israel," as Moussa put it. Mubarak had earlier said that "threats and ultimatums should be avoided in order not to ignite an already explosive situation."

Al-Assad also spoke to US President Bill Clinton by telephone on the matter, while Clinton spent more than five hours on Monday huddling with his advisers and speaking by telephone with Mubarak, Arafat, Al-Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, offering them a number of options to put an end to the violence -- all to no avail. Within hours it was clear that a US-proposed four-way summit that would have brought together Clinton, Mubarak, Arafat and Barak had evaporated into thin air. American sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that Washington will wait to see the outcome of the Arab summit.

Moussa underscored this point, saying in Damascus on Tuesday that "the next most important event [in the region] is the Arab summit." Egypt would not take part in the US-proposed summit because "we would never be bullied into a meeting by threats, ultimatums or military actions against the Palestinians," said Moussa.

Neither would Cairo be pushed into pressuring the Palestinians to sign a statement in Paris last week, condemning the Palestinian protests and ignoring the cause of the clashes, which was clearly the visit of right-wing Likud leader to Al-Aqsa mosque a fortnight ago. "The ultimatum was that Barak would not attend the Sharm Al-Sheikh summit, if Arafat did not sign the document," Mubarak disclosed after the fact. "Whether [Barak] was going to attend or not, that was his business."

Noticeably, while the president spoke by telephone and met with Arab and world leaders including Clinton, France's Jacques Chirac and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to salvage the situation, there was no direct contact by telephone between Mubarak and Barak over the past week.

Barak did, in fact, boycott a four-way meeting in Sharm Al-Sheikh last Thursday, which was supposed to bring together Mubarak, Arafat, US Secretary Madeleine Albright and the Israeli premier. Barak sent a message on Sunday via Israeli ambassador to Egypt Zvi Mazel explaining why he could not make it to the Red Sea resort, but Mazel did not explain the reason.

Barak's message also urged Mubarak "to intervene with Arafat to reestablish complete calm in Israel and the West Bank as quickly as possible," Mazel told reporters. The request was ironic, because Tel Aviv is unanimously seen by the Arabs as the perpetrator of the ongoing violence.

"Israel must first learn how to treat the Palestinians and Arabs with respect and as equals, not dictating conditions and policies to us," noted Osama El-Baz, Mubarak's chief political adviser.

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