Diplomatic ripostes

Dina Ezzat reports on Egyptian attempts to underline Cairo's crucial role in maintaining channels of Arab-Israeli communication

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Public anger in Egypt over Israeli construction and excavation work at the holy site of Al-Aqsa Mosque came to a head on Friday when anti- riot police clashed with angry demonstrators outside Al-Azhar Mosque. Protesters chanted anti-Israeli slogans and demanded that Egypt's ambassador to Israel be recalled and his Israeli counterpart expelled.

On the eve of the demonstrations Assistant Foreign Minister Wafaa Bassim summoned Shalom Cohen, Israel's ambassador to Egypt, to the Foreign Ministry in order to express official fury at Israeli work by Al-Aqsa Mosque.

According to the press release issued by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alaa Al-Hadidi, the message conveyed was firm. Cohen was told that continued excavations could compromise efforts to revive the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

Bassim's meeting with Cohen signaled more than diplomatic concern. Many observers interpret the summons as Cairo underlining its central role in ensuring smooth Arab-Israeli communication.

"I think summoning the Israeli ambassador was significant in the sense that it indicated Egypt could make waves should it want," says political analyst Emad Gad.

The message, Gad argues, was not just intended for Israel. "Egypt wants to make it clear to international and regional players that Cairo can interrupt efforts to speed Arab-Israeli dialogue." Should Egypt decide to give Israel a hard time in public, he adds, it would be difficult for any Arab party, the Palestinians included, to pursue rapprochement with Israel "or for the US to convince any other Arab party to do so".

Cairo might also have wanted to respond to Israeli Interior Minister Avi Dichter's allegations that Egypt tolerates the smuggling of weapons to Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza. Dichter has also accused Egypt of fabricating a story of Israeli espionage within the Egyptian community in Canada.

Summoning the Israeli ambassador was also an attempt to appease widespread calls that the Egyptian Ambassador to Tel Aviv be recalled, demands that will only grow should the situation on the ground worsen. Cairo remains loath to recall the ambassador at such a loaded time, both for internal Israeli politics and for the prospects of Palestinian-Israeli talks. It could, in addition, be interpreted as sending a message to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that Egyptian encouragement to pursue peace moves should not be misconstrued as willingness to accommodate political miscalculations on his side.

"It is true that Egypt is keen to work with Olmert on reaching a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian struggle but this does not mean that it will turn a blind eye to everything Olmert does," said one diplomatic source. "We want to work with him but he also has to be serious and sensitive on the Palestinian front, especially when it comes to Muslim holy sites."

Gad believes such an interpretation is "only part of the reason Egypt decided to voice its anger". Cairo, says Gad, was far from happy to be confronted with the controversial excavations when it was promoting efforts to re-launch the Palestinian-Israeli negotiation process with an eye on final status talks that cover, among other things, the future status of East Jerusalem.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit and Chief of Intelligence Omar Suleiman were in Washington promoting a proposal to launch final status talks when the anti- excavation protests started. "It must have been very annoying for the Egyptian delegation to be confronted with news of renewed clashes in the Palestinian territories when it was telling the Americans the moment had come to pursue a final settlement," says Gad. "One must also take into account that the news coming from Jerusalem was coupled with news from Mecca of the deal brokered by Saudi Arabia to end the inter-Palestinian conflict that Egypt has been trying to contain for months."

The Saudis failed to keep an implicit promise to invite the Egyptian security delegation in Gaza to Mecca to take part in the signing of the truce between Hamas and Fatah. Nor, says Gad, did Riyadh or the conferring Palestinians accord Cairo sufficient credit for its long and hard efforts in Gaza. "It was not exactly what Cairo was hoping for when it was promoting a final peace between the Palestinians and Israelis."

The visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Cairo on Saturday, a little over 24 hours after the conclusion of the Mecca deal, for briefings on the details of the agreement, was not a satisfactory gesture, believes Gad. "Egypt had to make it clear that it will not be sidelined."

On Sunday an Egyptian diplomatic source, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said Cairo sensed an attempt on the part of Israel "to minimise Egypt's role in the peace process". "This is not just about regional roles but about what we think is the support the Palestinians need when it comes to negotiating final status issues. Nobody knows these issues like Egypt does," he added.

In Egyptian diplomatic quarters there is a sense of apprehension, rather than worry, over Cairo's role as the regional broker of any Palestinian-Israeli settlement. Diplomats in charge of coordinating stances with Washington argue that when push comes to shove Washington knows which country carries real political weight in the region. It was Egypt, they add, that managed to convince Washington the Israeli- Palestinian front could not be allowed to remain on the path it has been on for the last six years.

The long history of Egyptian- American cooperation for peace and stability in the Middle East, says Assistant Foreign Minister Hatem Seifelnasr, is too valuable for the US to compromise. "It is out of the question. Our cooperation, indeed our relationship in its entirety, is far too profound and deep." Seifelnasr believes Washington is only too happy to use the peaceful offices of both Cairo and Riyadh to promote Middle East peace. "Each capital has its role, its links and its input to offer," he said, adding that Cairo and Washington will maintain contacts in the coming weeks as they search for a political framework that will give the Palestinian-Israeli peace process a new lease of life.