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Mustafa El-Feki tells Assem El-Kersh that Egypt should temporarily reduce its regional emphasis and focus instead on a domestic-oriented agenda

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In a meeting last week of the National Democratic Party's influential Policies Committee, Mustafa El-Feki, head of the People's Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, called for an Egyptian, domestically oriented agenda in the coming year.

El-Feki argued that, given the absence of any chance of a breakthrough across the whole range of regional issues, Egypt's regional role should be reduced to the minimum. Instead, it should focus on domestic issues, at least until the global financial crisis is over, since a domestically strong Egypt will then be in a position to play a greater role in the region in the future.

What were the main points of your proposals to the Policies Committee meeting?

That the coming year, 2009, is not one in which we should focus on Egypt's regional role. Despite the fact that I am one of the staunchest believers in the importance of Egypt's regional role now is a time that our political leadership must give most of its attention to addressing domestic problems, especially in light of the current global financial crisis. Most governments are already devoting the vast majority of their time to dealing with the ramifications of the financial meltdown.

Against this backdrop no one can realistically expect that Obama's election will save the world or our region. Those pinning such high hopes on him should lower their expectations. He will not introduce changes to American foreign policy. He will be too busy dealing with America's domestic economic problems.

There will also be a new Israeli government, and in Iraq relative calm after the signing of the Security Agreement between the Iraqi government and the US administration. Meanwhile, the Darfur crisis has entered a phase of internationalisation, the Palestinian cause one of fragmentation, though even this has an international edge given that there are countries that support Hamas financially and others that support Fatah.

Is Egypt no longer able to tackle domestic issues in parallel with regional ones?

Any returns on Egypt's regional efforts have become very limited. There are no opportunities for Egypt to forge a breakthrough in any of the region's most pressing issues. There isn't a glimmer of hope of bringing the Palestinian factions together, of pressing ahead towards a settlement between the Palestinians and Israelis, of making a breakthrough in Iraq or Sudan. Other regional powers have shunned these issues and are saving their efforts. Egypt should do the same and focus its attention on domestic problems. This does not mean that we should abandon our regional role completely. But it should be kept to the minimum.

Egypt has already reduced its foreign policy goals to solving the Palestinian crisis and to maintaining relations with the US. Isn't your call tantamount to an invitation for Egypt to be even more self-centred and isolated from its regional surroundings?

No. My argument is that domestic-oriented policies should constitute the core of our agenda in 2009. It is a short-term agenda, applicable for perhaps two to three years, at least until the global financial crisis is over.

But won't this approach create a vacuum in the regional arena that could be filled by others?

No. All regional powers are now preoccupied with the financial crisis. And I am certainly not suggesting that we let Iran become the only speaker on behalf of the Middle East. Egypt should have a say and be an active player in what is going on in the region and in the future of the Middle East. What I am seeking to stress is that nobody should entertain great expectations about our regional role in the coming period.

Such an approach could open the door to countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey taking a bigger regional role...

I don't think so. My reading of the situation is that all these countries' regional efforts have not played out well. Qatar's role seems confused, and its goals far from clear. It hosts the largest American military base in the region, supports Hamas and yet builds bridges with Israel. Egypt's regional weight will continue to give it the edge over other regional powers.

Have you received any reactions from the political leadership?

I was speaking independently, in my capacity as an intellectual, and as a concerned citizen, not as the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the People's Assembly.

Aren't you afraid Egypt will be accused of abandoning its regional responsibilities?

It is a constant of the regional scene, this accusation that the Egyptian role is being eroded. It is made regardless of whether Egyptian diplomacy is thriving or not. Look at the Israeli aggression against Gaza. All the parties blame it on Egypt, not Israel. Yet it is patently illogical to absolve Israel of the crimes it commits and then blame them on Egypt. The siege on Gaza was a result of the coup Hamas staged in June 2007. Israeli aggressions against Gaza were a result of the firing of rockets by Hamas at Israeli settlements. We repeatedly advised Hamas leaders to stop firing such rockets. National liberation movements are different from collective suicide movements. National liberation movements should base their actions on sound calculations that result in effective resistance and not on haphazard suicide bombings and rocket firing.

We should not expect much in 2009 in terms of the Palestinian issue.