Salvage effort
As the situation in Iraq and the Palestinian territories unravels, Mubarak set out to seek answers in Europe, writes Nevine Khalil
Embarking on a two-stop trip to Europe, President Hosni Mubarak will call on the leaders of Italy and France to play a more active role in stabilising the Middle East.
Arriving in Rome today, Mubarak will discuss the volatile situation in Iraq and violent confrontation between the Palestinians and Israelis with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose country currently heads the rotating presidency of the European Union. The talks will focus on "the support that Egypt and the EU can bring to overcome the current tensions and accelerate the stabilisation process in the region", according to a statement issued by the Italian Embassy in Cairo.
After meeting other top Italian officials, including President Carlo Azelgio Ciampi, Mubarak will travel to Paris for talks with French President Jacques Chirac on Monday. Egypt and France largely share the same views on Iraq and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; both want sovereignty returned to the Iraqi people and the roadmap peace plan to forge ahead.
Mubarak's trip comes in the wake of several important developments on the Palestinian plane, including the resignation of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and a decision by EU foreign ministers to blacklist the armed Palestinian group Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Abbas's resignation followed a suicide bombing last month that provoked Israel to freeze all contact with the Palestinian Authority and charge that Abbas was unable to hold back armed Palestinian resistance.
Although Egypt had worked hard since May to iron out differences between Abbas and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and this week scrambled to contain tensions between the two men, Mubarak said Abbas's resignation came as no surprise. "The breakdown was foreseeable and expected," he told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Tuesday. "The truth is that Mahmoud Abbas had help from no one." Mubarak said that Abbas's successor, Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qurieh, would also fall failing proper support. He added that marginalising Arafat would be counter- productive. "No prime minister would be able to govern without Arafat's support," he said in reference to the US- backed Israeli strategy of excising Arafat from the peace process.
In a telephone conversation between Mubarak and Arafat on Monday, both leaders agreed on the importance of maintaining unity among the Palestinian leadership to ensure viable peace. Asked by Corriere della Sera whether he would consider visiting Israel at this critical time to promote peace, Mubarak said he would only undertake such a trip if he ascertains "that all parties are doing their best to achieve peace."
In addition, the president said the Egyptian people would first need to sanction such a trip. "I will ask the permission of my people first, before going on an official visit to Jerusalem in the name of true peace." In the past, Mubarak's standard response to talk of visiting Israel has been that circumstances were not opportune yet. Mubarak's sole visit to Israel as was to attend former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's funeral in 1995.
Mubarak also believes that the EU's stigmatisation of Hamas is pointless. "You can't stop the financing of terrorist groups," he noted. "They don't receive money from government but from individuals. How do you stop them?" Though the EU has yet to take action to freeze Hamas funding, the US recently called for just such a measure. Mubarak's suggestion was to search out a way to make peace with Hamas rather than condemn its existence.
According to EU High Representative on Foreign Policy and Security Javier Solana, the decision on Hamas's status will remain an agenda item in discussions between member states. Solana was speaking to reporters after meeting with Mubarak on Sunday, and suggested that Hamas transform itself into a political, rather than an armed resistance movement.
Standing by his side, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher cautioned that "no more decisions should be taken by any parties which may complicate the situation further." Cairo had been working for months to broker a ceasefire between the Palestinian factions and Israel, but these efforts -- spearheaded by Egyptian Chief of Intelligence Omar Suleiman -- were squandered when the truce collapsed under the weight of Israel's continued policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders. Maher warned Israel not to "exploit any decision taken by Europe as an excuse to continue its dangerous and illegal policies [of targeted assassinations]."
Egypt, in fact, wants to see the roadmap initiative salvaged by a more active role by all international players, including the main sponsor of the peace process, the US. "The roadmap is the only route we can take. We must persist," Mubarak said.
Already, several US officials have said that they would be willing to work with Qurieh as long as the prime minister is in full control of the security apparatus. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that Washington is eminently interested in defining the institution and powers of the premiership. US Secretary of State Colin Powell noted that the big issue is not the identity of the prime minister, but how well that individual will be able to "function" with the US and Israel. Powell was also critical of Israel's policy of assassinating Palestinian figures and its plan to expel Arafat -- although, he added, Washington will continue to boycott the Palestinian president.
Cairo squarely places the blame for the unraveling of the roadmap at the doorstep of Israel because of its provocative policies.
"Israel is trying to divide the ranks of the Palestinians and ignite a civil war there," Maher said on Saturday. Speaking at the annual conference of the Egyptian Council on Foreign Affairs (ECFA), Maher called on "the world to take steps to undercut [Israel's] hostile policies".
Representatives from the US, EU, Russia and UN -- the diplomatic Quartet which drafted the plan -- will meet on 22 September to take stock of the situation. Solana, who briefed Mubarak on the latest European diplomatic policies towards the region, said that the EU continues to solidly support the roadmap. "It is the best way to keep the peace process alive and to overcome the current crisis," Solana said.
On the issue of Iraq, Solana was optimistic about a prospective UN Security Council resolution, saying that it "gives hope" for restoring stability and security in Iraq. For their part, the Arab countries took the first step to re-integrate Iraq into the Arab fold by allowing interim Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari to occupy Iraq's seat at last Tuesday's meeting of Arab foreign ministers.
"This decision was agreed upon unanimously," Maher, who chaired the ministerial meeting, told reporters. Zebari, an Iraqi Kurd, is a member of the US- appointed Interim Governing Council which is charged with overseeing the affairs of the country until a government is democratically elected. "We do not want to isolate Iraq," Maher told ECFA a few days ahead of the two-day Arab League meeting. "But neither do we want the occupation to continue." He stressed that nothing would validate sending Arab troops to Iraq.
Along with other Arab states, Egypt wants to see the US-led coalition forces exit Iraq as soon as possible. But US President George W Bush's address to the nation last Sunday dashed all such hopes. Bush described Iraq as the front line in the war on terrorism. Hence he said the US will remain there "until it has achieved its goals". The US Head Civil Administrator Paul Bremer was more precise about the prerequisites for the occupying troops to withdraw. Bremer listed four steps, namely the drafting of a new constitution, its ratification, the election of a new government and the dissolution of the civilian government which is currently in charge of the country.
