Ongoing efforts CAIRO appears determined to press ahead with its diplomatic and other efforts to promote inter-Palestinian order, despite the numerous obstacles being placed in its path by Israel. "Most probably, we will be going -- myself and the chief of intelligence [Omar Suleiman] -- to Israel in the first week of October," Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said Tuesday in Ottawa following talks with his Canadian counterpart. The foreign minister said he would tell Israel that its planned pullout from Gaza must occur in a comprehensive manner, and that there "should not be any residual presence because any residual presence on the borders between Egypt and Palestine, in whatever localities inside Gaza, would be a kind of an attraction for the Palestinians to keep firing on that residual presence." Convincing Israel to "completely and fully" pull out of Gaza has thus far proven to be one of the toughest challenges facing the Egyptian diplomatic effort. At the same time, Cairo is determined to not get directly involved in facilitating the withdrawal unless it receives full guarantees from Tel Aviv that Israeli troops will withdraw in "a clean way, which means they should have no enclaves and that they should not be planning to re-occupy under any circumstances," one Egyptian diplomat said. Cairo is concurrently conducting talks with Palestinian and Israeli officials to secure the arrival of the first group of Palestinian officers who were supposed to start their training in Egypt a few days ago, had they not been barred from travelling by Israeli authorities. "We told our Egyptian friends that we still expect them to pursue their efforts despite the many handicaps put by Israel," said Mohamed Sobeih, Palestine's permanent representative to the Arab League. According to Sobeih, the Israelis do not want the Egyptians to continue their efforts to mediate inter- Palestinian unity or upgrade the training of Palestinian police officers. The Israeli prime minister, Sobeih said, "is really reluctant to [implement the withdrawal from Gaza] in fear of negative internal reactions," and needs a pretext to continue delaying the withdrawal, and pursuing an ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people. The Egyptian and Palestinian sides both believe Israel will ultimately allow the Palestinian officers to come to Cairo for training. In the meantime, Egypt needs more breakthroughs on the inter-Palestinian track before it can really claim its diplomatic efforts a success. Inter-faction disagreements on the nature of the withdrawal and the kind of internal political and security moves that should follow it are far from being resolved by the ongoing Egyptian-driven inter-Palestinian dialogue. Iraq's future FOREIGN Ministry sources confirmed that Cairo is planning to host a meeting on Iraq's future. The sources said the meeting's agenda would most likely cover the country's security complications, its political process, and prospects for reconstruction. Sharm El-Sheikh has been decided as a venue and the second half of November (after the Eid holidays) is set for a tentative date. "So far many of those consulted on the potential date have shown interest and enthusiasm," one source said. Expected to take part in the meeting are the Iraq Neighbouring States Group (Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Iran and Turkey), member states of the G8, the Arab League, the UN, the European Union and the Organisation of Islamic Conference. France first proposed the need for an international meeting on Iraq a few months ago. Over the past few days, on the fringes of the UN General Assembly meetings in New York, US Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed the need for that kind of meeting with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit. The aim is to bring together regional and international players to agree on a plan of action to resolve Iraq's security and political problems. Holding the meeting in the Middle East was also a key point. "This meeting will be held against a backdrop of disturbing blood-letting in Iraq that does not seem to be coming to an end, and that seems to be having a serious toll on the potentials for reconstruction and a political process," one Egyptian diplomat said. He said the conference would have to consider providing support for the Iraqi government in "the difficult days ahead, [because] instability in Iraq does not serve the interests of this region, and a way out has to be found." Talking about books IN OCTOBER, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak will be heading to Frankfurt to take part in the International Frankfurt Book Fair, which has chosen Arab culture as its guest of honour this year. The president of the fair, Volker Neuman, requested Mrs Mubarak's participation during a recent visit to Cairo. Mrs Mubarak is expected to share her unique experience with the pioneering "Reading for All" campaign she has championed for close to two decades. The effort, which makes large numbers of books available to Egyptians at affordable prices, is one of the key aspects of her extensive experience in promoting reading among children. Mrs Mubarak will also be talking about the "Reading for All" campaign and other reading and literacy projects in which women play a major role in two other speeches planned for this week. Italian cooperation EGYPTIAN and Italian armed forces began a joint military exercise codenamed "Pyramids 2004" on Saturday in Al-Hammam, west of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, reports Amira Ibrahim. Air force, infantry, tanks and heavy artillery units are taking part in the three-week long exercises. At a joint press conference on Saturday, Egyptian and Italian commanders highlighted the exercises as a sign of bilateral cooperation serving international peace. "Joint exercises with Italy represent one of the main pillars that illustrate military cooperation between countries where experiences are exchanged," commented the Egyptian commander. He said that Egyptian air defence and air force units would participate in the exercises. According to the Italian commander, 1,500 Italian military personnel are taking part in the exercises, due to be held every two years. He added that Italy would deploy mechanised infantry, artillery, specialised and support troops, as well as the air force. The event is divided into two main phases. First, both sides exchange military information and create a unified database. The second phase includes major applications of beneficial exercises. Al-Hammam is the permanent location for the large-scale multinational manoeuvres codenamed "Bright Star", which take place every two years. The "Bright Star" manoeuvres last took place in October 2001, with two key participants -- Egypt and the US -- and nine other European and Arab countries. Human rights agreement THE NATIONAL Council for Human Rights (NCHR) signed an agreement Tuesday with the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to strengthen the NCHR's capacities with a focus on attaining a ''solid foundation for human rights in Egypt'' and to facilitate ''public access to substantive information about human norms and practices in Egypt,'' reports Magda El- Ghitany. The joint project, which also has the support of the Dutch government, aims at introducing a training programme that will eventually help in improving the ''capacities of non-governmental organisations and governmental institutions on human rights''. These capacities will accordingly push for ''boosting democracy and bridging the confidence gap between citizens and their government institutions,'' UNDP Resident Representative Antonio Vigilante said. NCHR Chairman Boutros Boutros-Ghali said ''Egyptian-international cooperation'' would help the organisation pursue its goal of protecting human rights and freedoms in Egypt. NCHR Vice-Chairman Kamal Abul-Magd said development was dependent on people feeling "well secured", which was a driving force for the empowerment of human rights.
