28 March - 3 April 2002
Issue No.579
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 28 March - 3 April 2002 Issue No.579 |
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Diplomatic fever
In a flurry of diplomatic activities yesterday, Egyptian officials continued their efforts to pursue peace avenues, reports Soha AbdelatyForeign Minister Ahmed Maher made successive diplomatic phone calls , calling upon the governments of the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom to put an end to Israel's incursions into Ramallah, the siege of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people as a whole. Each of his counterparts from these countries assured Maher that they would, in turn, work on bringing a peaceful resolution to the situation. Cairo, was also coordinating with its Arab neighbours to unify Arab positions regarding Israeli aggression. Maher exchanged views with his counterparts from Morocco, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, as well as the Secretary General of the Arab League on ways to deal with the situation.
Palestinian Minister of International Cooperation Nabil Shaath came to Cairo on Sunday to brief Egyptian officials as well the Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa on the situation in the occupied territories. Shaath told reporters after meeting with Maher “There is a conspiracy against the life of President Arafat, despite all that is being said about the protection of President Arafat and not harming him.” Shaath also detailed other Israeli violations that have taken place over the past few days, including the numerous executions that are being carried out against Palestinians, the taking of hostages and the burning of Palestinian buildings and infrastructure. Shaath came to Cairo, with a list of demands that the Palestinians want to be met. “What is required is practical steps: first of all, to protect the President and the city of Ramallah; second, to implement the Security Council resolution which dictates the withdrawal of all Israeli forces and ending the Israeli aggression; thirdly, moving after that, once again, to the future and to the final resolution,” he said. Shaath, however, did not want to go into the details of how these steps can be implemented, preferring instead to call upon the Arab and European governments to take all the necessary measures to put an immediate end to Israeli aggression. The Palestinian Authority, said Shaath, is willing to “start with any steps; we do not have to go to another summit after only a few days. We do not mind calls for any Arab step that leads to unifying the Arab efforts.”
For his part, Maher outlined Cairo's demands for a cessation of all aggression. While asking for the speedy implementation of Security Council resolution 1402 which calls for complete Israeli withdrawal from Ramallah, and the sending of international monitors to the region, Maher added that Cairo wants to see complete Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands in Area A, the region that is under the Palestinian Authority's full control.
Despite reassurances from Israel and international players that President Arafat will not be personally harmed, Maher said that the Israelis could not be trusted.
In answering a question about Israel's intransigence on implementing the Security Council resolution, Maher stated, “Israel refuses everything.” However, he added, that will not stop Cairo from working “with the important forces in the world to activate this decision, to force Israel to implement it. Israel is not above the law and it is not above the Security Council resolutions and it is up to the countries if they care about peace, security and stability to force Israel to implement it.”
Maher, refrained from commenting directly on the US' stance towards the recent Israeli actions. Instead, he told reporters that “the United States completely realizes that what Israel is doing will backfire against Israel and against the Palestinians and against the peoples of the region and against American interests.”
“I think that Israel's actions are crazy and are not characterised by rationality or clear thinking,” Maher said.
“The Israelis said that what they are doing does not recognise boundaries. I hope they know that what they are saying is very dangerous,” he added.
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