For three days in Sharm El-Sheikh, the World Economic Forum on the Middle East cautiously projected a positive image of the future of the region.
Dina Ezzat attended and listened
Fantasy unravels
The promise of an independent Palestinian state by the end of the year is all but falling apart
Despite careful and at times misleading upbeat wording, the World Economic Forum on the Middle East (WEF-ME) convening this week in Sharm El-Sheikh was a cold shower for many optimists. The establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state by the end of 2008, as promised earlier in the year by US President George W Bush, is proving a challenge that not even all-powerful Washington can live up to.
"I firmly believe that with leadership and courage, we can reach that peace agreement this year," President Bush told the conference. Bush's statements on Sunday, Egyptian and Arab diplomats acknowledge, were aimed to appease Arab capitals angered by his statement before the Israeli Knesset last week. There, Bush failed not only to make reference to his promise to see an independent Palestinian state established before his second term in office ends this year, but provoked many by making positive reference to Zionist mantras like "Eretz Yisrael".
In Sharm El-Sheikh, for the WEF-ME and for talks with President Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah of Jordan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the US president, high-level sources say, failed to promise that as little as a framework agreement would be concluded between Palestinians and Israelis before he exits the White House. Sources talk of the frustration of Arab leaders, especially President Abbas who is said to have informed Cairo that despite isolated progress in negotiations with Israel, real advances are lacking. Speaking in Riyadh, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal lamented the failure of Bush to explicitly acknowledge legitimate Palestinian rights, especially to statehood after 60 years of dispossession.
Meanwhile, Arab leaders present in Sharm El-Sheikh this week are said to have told the visiting US president as well as several Israeli officials present for the WEF-ME that Abbas will not get support for a deal that would fall short of basic Arab and Muslim demands. "[Abbas] needs an honourable [peace] deal. And it is a mistake to think that anybody [Arab or Muslim countries] would offer cover for a deal that falls short of honouring the legitimate demands of the Palestinian people," President Mubarak said Sunday, minutes before Bush spoke.
Arab frustration with dwindling prospects of the US exercising leverage over Israel was clear in many statements and interventions made since the three-day event opened Sunday. President Abbas, following talks with Mubarak in Sharm El-Sheikh Sunday, all but accused the US of exercising bias towards Israel. "We just want the US to be objective and unbiased," he told reporters in unmistakably frustrated tone.
King Abdullah of Jordan in a speech before the inaugural session of the WEF-ME lamented chances and time lost in efforts to make Arab- Israeli peace a reality. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit cast doubt over US optimism. And in atypical, albeit indirect criticism, Gamal Mubarak, son of the Egyptian president and assistant secretary-general of the ruling National Democratic Party, suggested that by leaving the parties of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to their own means the US was not doing enough to facilitate an agreement.
According to statements made by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in a WEF-ME question and answer session, any agreement will take the time it needs. The top Israeli diplomat also suggested that the conclusion of a deal would not necessarily lead to the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state. This, she said, "as we agreed in Annapolis" would "have to pass through" the implementation of the roadmap requirements, especially on "ending violence".
Livni declined to offer any particular timeline for the progress of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. "High expectations lead to frustration," she said.
For their part, Livni's political rivals, Ehud Barak, leader of the Labour Party and Israeli defence minister, and Benyamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud Party, both in Sharm El-Sheikh for the WEF-ME conference and meetings with President Mubarak, offered no differing account. More time is needed, the three Israeli officials concurred.
For Abul-Gheit, the Israeli statements constitute disturbing evidence that Israel has not yet taken the firm decision to pursue a peace deal, in particular with the Palestinians. "If Israel decides to end the occupation, we will have the two-state solution [promised by Bush]," he said. He added: "Let them end the occupation tomorrow and we will have peace tomorrow."
Meanwhile, prospects of direct international involvement -- even by members of the international Quartet on the Middle East (the US, Russia, European Union and the UN) -- appear slim. Alexander Saltanov, special envoy of the Russian foreign minister for the Middle East, said that Moscow's repeated offer to host a conference to reinvigorate hopes for Middle East peace has been turned down again. "It takes two to tango... It takes a few to dance Dabka [traditional Palestinian dance] ... And in this case, a leading dancer does not want to join," he said.
Judging by meetings that were held on the side of the WEF-ME, especially those hosted by President Mubarak and General Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman, the maximum that could be produced out of this week's gathering is a framework for a truce between Israel and Hamas that could contain the human suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. The details of the deal will be discussed further by Suleiman in the coming few days with visiting Hamas leaders.
Egyptian officials say they are working hard to give a push to this deal in order to forestall what they suspect might be aggressive Israeli military operations scheduled ahead in an already stifled Gaza. They add that the conclusion of the deal would mean that sufficient humanitarian supplies would be channelled into Gaza that has for the most part been suffering serious deficiencies since Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza following Hamas's take over of power in the Strip last summer.
This week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) complained that UNRWA was forced last month to deny food supplies to some 650,000 beneficiaries due to the restrictions imposed by Israel, especially the lack of fuel that prevents contractors from transporting food. OCHA warned that food distribution to 110,000 Palestinian children in UNRWA schools would be significantly undermined if fuel restrictions continued. It also warned that agricultural products are threatened since more than 70 per cent of agricultural wells rely on diesel to power water pumps.
This week, Gaza-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called again on Egypt to unilaterally open the Rafah crossing point connecting the Strip with Egypt if truce negotiations fail. The truce proposal is threatened primarily by continued disagreement between Hamas and Israel over the list of Palestinian prisoners to be released in return for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit captured in June 2006.
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