UN sought

Dina Ezzat reports on Egyptian efforts to reactivate Middle East peace moves

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Capitalising on what it qualifies as a special relationship with the US and a practical rapport with Israel, Egypt has been slowly but surely communicating a message to Washington and Tel Aviv about the need to launch a fresh and serious effort to find a peaceful and fair settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Central to the exercise of Egyptian diplomacy is the resolution adopted by the Arab ministers of foreign affairs last month pursuing the support and involvement of the UN Security Council to resume peace efforts.

Egyptian diplomatic sources are cautious in qualifying their efforts. They are determined that their endeavour is part of an overall Arab attempt to find peace in the Middle East. This, they say, will also depend on the involvement of other concerned parties.

"We feel that Egypt can use its contacts and experience in peace-making to engage all concerned parties in and outside the region, to launch a fresh bid towards peace in the Middle East," commented one diplomatic source.

It was during the Israeli war on Lebanon that Arab countries collectively declared that all efforts to bring about a peaceful end to the conflict in the Middle East have failed to yield concrete results. As such, Arab foreign ministers decided the time had come to solicit the support and involvement of the UN Security Council to initiate new momentum towards Middle East peace-making.

Since then, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has conveyed a non-paper to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposing what he describes as his own general ideas on the road towards peace in the Middle East.

Moussa's vision, which is not meant to prejudge any possible collective Arab proposal that might be reached during the regular Arab foreign ministers meeting next Wednesday, aims to secure the direct involvement of the entire UN Security Council in a process of direct negotiations that could entail an international peace conference to set out a new process upon clear legal rules of engagement and within a one-year framework.

In parallel statements made by the Arab League and Egyptian sources, both sides affirmed that Moussa's non-paper is only the guidelines of a vision. The concrete collective Arab proposal to be presented at a special session of the UN Security Council, at the foreign ministers level during the third week of September, has not yet been formulated.

The formulation of the collective Arab proposal, sources say, is based on a clear philosophy of reconciliation, not confrontation. "We are not going to the UN Security Council to get into an argument with Israel or a confrontation with the US, nor are we going to allege a diplomatic victory or extract yet another unimplementable resolution," affirmed a well- informed Egyptian source.

According to the source the approach the Arabs are pursuing through the Security Council is aimed at encouraging both the US and Israel to join "a realistic approach that aims to conduct effective negotiations within a coherent mechanism and with the objective of a fair and comprehensive peace in mind." The source added that while the objective was to launch serious negotiations upon clear parameters, "the intention is to encourage all parties to be engaged positively."

Egyptian, and for that matter Arab League sources, insist that while the current diplomatic exercise stems from profound Arab frustration with the humble outcome of the US-brokered peace efforts of the past few years, nobody has the intention to either overlook the US or to drop any positive outcome that has resulted from the efforts of previous years. Rather the opposite, the sources say. There is genuine interest in securing the support and active engagement of the US as a key player in the Security Council.

"When we go to the UN Security Council and ask for its auspices we are not at all attempting to exclude the US," the source stressed. "We are not blind to the influence of the US in the Security Council and we are not oblivious to the fact that without its engagement our efforts will not bear fruit. Having the US on board is a minimal condition.

"We want the US and other members of the Security Council because the council has an executive status and wide acceptance that authorises it to act."

Moreover, Egypt and many other Arab diplomatic quarters do not seem to be willing to ignore the fact that the efforts of the past few years yielded international recognition of the right of Palestinians to a viable state and a recognition of the Arab peace initiative which offers Israel full diplomatic relations in return for its withdrawal from Arab territories occupied in 1967.

While Egypt has been communicating its message to Washington, Tel Aviv and other concerned world capitals including the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council and the current presidency of the European Union, Cairo has also been stressing interest in sticking to the terms of reference of peace as established by relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the land for peace principal, the roadmap and the Arab peace initiative.

More intense consultations will be conducted by Egypt within the next few days leading to the convocation of the Arab foreign ministers council and that of the UN General Assembly and the special UN Security Council session on Middle East peace. Egypt, sources say, will be talking to Israel to encourage it to be part of this exercise that will ultimately serve the interests of all sides. The Egyptian consultations will also include all the concerned Arab capitals and influential regional and international players.

During his visit to Cairo on Tuesday, Annan will be consulted further on this new endeavour for peace both by Cairo and the Arab League.