7 - 13 February 2002
Issue No.572
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 7 - 13 February 2002 Issue No.572 |
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Paris talks
PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak and French President Jacques Chirac are scheduled to discuss on Friday the French initiative to revive the Middle East peace process. Mubarak will be among 12 heads of state and government attending a Paris conference on development in Africa, where he will meet one-on-one with Chirac.
The French plan suggests holding Palestinian elections and the declaration of a Palestinian state soon afterwards, before re- launching negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.
The proposal met with a mixed reaction in Cairo. Mubarak expressed doubt that the Palestinians would accept it, while his chief political adviser Osama El- Baz described it as "a strong initiative."
Call to Europe
PALESTINIAN negotiator Nabil Shaath urged Britain on Tuesday to pressure Israel to end its policy of targeted assassinations and military incursions into the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Shaath repeated Palestinian calls for Britain and its European Union allies to take a more assertive role in Middle East politics to counter what most Arab leaders see as Washington's pro-Israeli stance.Shaath said that Europe had traditionally been too timid in using its influence in the Arab-Israeli conflict and that he would press British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to back a call made by France regarding the Palestinian Authority. As reported by Reuters, the French side has called, among other things, for giving the Palestinian leadership of Yasser Arafat more legitimacy and for the deployment of international observers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
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