23 - 29 August 2001
Issue No.548
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 23 - 29 August 2001 Issue No.548 |
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'Sincere intentions for peace'
Egypt pushed ahead with diplomatic efforts for the deployment of cease-fire monitors in Palestinian territories, but presidential adviser Osama El-Baz appears to have failed to persuade the Americans to drop their opposition to the idea. Khaled Dawoud and Soha Abdelaty report
Against the backdrop of mounting fears that Israeli violence against the Palestinians could cause tensions to flare up throughout the region and lead to attacks against Israeli and US targets, Egypt continued intensive contacts with all parties to seek an end to the almost year-long crisis.
President Mubarak during the press conference
On Saturday, and shortly after Israel Radio announced that a high-level Egyptian delegation visiting Washington backed down from supporting an Arab demand for the immediate deployment of international observers in occupied Palestine, President Hosni Mubarak held a news conference to deny the report. "We do not act according to Israel's wishes," Mubarak told reporters. "We act according to what is required to establish peace. Israel has its own motives for airing such reports."
Mubarak added that one of the main reasons he decided to send his top political adviser, Osama El-Baz, to Washington last week, was to talk about the international observers issue. "The delegation we sent [to Washington] spoke to them about the issue of observers in accordance with what leaders of the G- 8 group agreed to in their latest summit in Italy. If they do not want to send American observers, why not consider Europeans. However, so far the picture remains unclear."
Mubarak said that El-Baz, in his meetings with top US officials, sought mainly to "explain the situation and the existing circumstances so that the American administration would know the truth."
Egyptian commentators interpreted Israeli reports of a shift in Egypt's position as an attempt to drive a wedge between Cairo and the Palestinian Authority, led by President Yasser Arafat. Informed Egyptian sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that these attempts usually fail "because Israel knows very well that Egypt's support for Palestinians is unwavering." The same sources added that Egyptian officials were considering all options in order to persuade the US administration to play a more active role in efforts to end the ongoing violence in occupied Palestinian territories.
In his statements, Mubarak emphasised that what matters is not the issue of international observers, "but the existence of sincere intentions for peace. Without such intentions, everybody, especially Israel, will suffer. They [the Israeli government] imagine that what they are doing will achieve security for Israeli citizens. I tell them 'No,' [what Israel is doing] will only lead to unlimited acts of violence and revenge."
Mubarak also announced his intention to tour a number of Arab and European countries at the beginning of September to mobilise efforts to convince Israel to end its violence against Palestinians and return to the negotiating table.
In a move coinciding with the Egyptian delegation's visit to Washington, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher met with the new American ambassador, David Welch, on Sunday to urge greater American involvement. "I think the US is convinced of the necessity of taking action, but I believe that the picture is not clear yet regarding that action," Maher told reporters on Monday. Maher denied that Egypt and the US have agreed on a joint initiative, saying that they had merely exchanged ideas. "Would you call this an initiative? I would not qualify it as such... We cannot talk about a complete American- Egyptian proposal, let alone an American proposal," he explained.
The US is not the only country with which Egypt is working. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer visited Cairo on Monday as part of a regional tour that also took him to Palestine and Israel. Fischer was thrust into the midst of efforts to reconcile the two sides during his last visit to the region in June, which coincided with a suicide bomb attack in Tel-Aviv. Fischer used his good offices at the time to negotiate a cease-fire between the two sides.
Despite Egyptian and German declarations that the German role is "clear" and "fruitful," Fischer declined to answer reporters' questions about the German position on the issue of sending observers to the region. "These are elements of the discussions, and I think that it is not helpful to have these discussions at a press conference," he explained.
Fischer affirmed German support for the Mitchell recommendations. "We are still in favour of the full implementation of the Mitchell report. We think that this is the bridge accepted by all -- the international community and the parties to the conflict," Fischer said.
Maher also met on Tuesday with European peace envoy Miguel Mauratinos reportedly to discuss an initiative by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to resume talks with the Palestinians. Peres has said that he was willing to meet Arafat in the event that talks he has been conducting with Palestinians through a "secret channel" bear fruit.
Asked whether he trusted Peres' intentions, Mauratinos told Al-Ahram Weekly that "you have to trust them and support them" as an initiative towards establishing a cease-fire.
The Egyptian position on Peres' proposal remains vague. "We have heard contradictory reports about what is in these ideas... But I cannot comment on ideas about for which I do not know the details," Maher told the Weekly.
Maher added, however, that it is up the Palestinians to judge the merit of these proposals. As for the proposed Arafat-Peres meeting, Maher said, "I believe that the idea of the meeting has met with a tentative acceptance. However, what is important is that the meeting should produce results."
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