As Sharon prepares to form yet another government, Egypt is reaching out to Israel. Soha Abdelaty reports on the change of tactics, if not of heart Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon's assumption of the Israeli prime ministership two years ago was a dismal moment for Arab capitals. Egyptian officials, in particular, have not been shy about expressing their disappointment with the Sharon government. Cairo has even gone as far as to argue that as long as Sharon remains in power, peace will be elusive. But when the Israelis expressed their desire for yet another Likud government in last month's elections, Cairo adopted a new tack. President Hosni Mubarak telephoned Sharon to congratulate him shortly after the election results were announced, and extended to the Israeli leader an invitation for talks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. The move, explained Mubarak on Sunday, was a change of strategy. "Not talking with Sharon when he came to power [in February 2001] proved not to be a productive policy, so we are changing it," the Egyptian president said. Mubarak is planning to meet with Sharon once he forms a new government, to "test this new approach and see if it works". What is important, Mubarak emphasised, "is making progress on Palestinian issues". In response to Cairo's gesture, Israeli Foreign Minister Benyamin Netanyahu telephoned Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher on 6 February to reiterate what he called Israel's "willingness for a dialogue on peace", to which Maher responded that Egypt is "always prepared to engage in a dialogue on peace". Maher, however, made the initiation of such a dialogue conditional on certain goodwill "actions" that would attest to the Israeli government's desire for peace. "We would be happy to follow up on [this initiative] once these actions take place," Maher said on Thursday. Why now, some are asking, especially given that during the past couple of years Sharon has not shown interest in resuming political negotiations with the Palestinians. What has changed? Some observers are saying that after the Labour Party's immense defeat in the January elections, Egypt suddenly found itself with no alternative. "The elections completely eliminated the Labour and the left," director of the Arab Centre for Futuristic Studies Gamil Mattar told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The secularists, such as the Shinui Party, have risen instead, and the Arab regimes had to view this from a completely new perspective," he said. While Labour won only 19 seats in the Knesset, Shinui doubled its representation, taking 15 seats. Cairo has long had contacts and meetings with the Labour Party and forces in the peace camp -- an approach that Sharon's government said represented meddling in Israeli domestic affairs. Cairo had hoped to increase Labour's chances at the polls -- one of the aims behind its attempt to facilitate an agreement among Palestinian factions for a year-long "test period" cease-fire against Israeli targets within 1948 borders. "This test period will be an opportunity for international players, as well as the Israeli peace camp, to consolidate their efforts and put an end to the Israeli government's aggression," Maher said before the Israeli elections. For more than the past two months, Cairo has hosted talks between key Palestinian factions such as Hamas, Jihad, Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the People's Party to forge a unified position on issues such as armed operations against Israel. Mattar argues that after elections Egyptian officials found that "he's [Sharon] in power either way", and so they asked themselves: "what do we have to lose?" Sharon, Mattar said, is an easier partner than his more conservative foreign minister, Netanyahu. Mattar also predicted that other Arab countries would follow Egypt's lead. Egyptian officials are hoping that by getting closer to Sharon, they will increase their influence over the direction of Israeli policies. "The road to a peaceful resolution for the Middle East conflict is blocked. We deemed it necessary to open a path through which we can influence the intransigent Israeli positions," said Maher. One official said that Egypt believes that a one-on-one meeting between Mubarak and Sharon would be more effective towards influencing the Israeli hard-liner's policies than exchanges of messages through various international intermediaries. The two had not met in person since Sharon became prime minister, and only exchanged brief phone calls during the past couple of years. But there is another reason Cairo wants to open a dialogue with Israel: the looming war in Iraq. Diplomatic sources told the Weekly that coupled with the detrimental effects a military campaign against Iraq would have on the region, the continuation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has the potential to lead to further upheaval. "It's a rational choice to salvage the region from complete chaos -- to have some sort of control," said one source. There are other advantages in engaging in a dialogue with Sharon. For one thing, by initiating such a dialogue, "you send a message to those in the US administration who claim there are no Arab peace partners", a diplomatic source told the Weekly. Furthermore, it "puts the ball in his court", the source said, speaking of Sharon. But Egyptian officials are insisting that its latest tack does not signal the turning of a new page in Egyptian-Israeli relations. Egyptian- Israeli relations witnessed a grave deterioration following the outbreak of the Intifada in September 2001. Two months later, Cairo recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv. And in April of last year, Egypt decided to "halt all communication with Israel, except diplomatic channels that serve the Palestinian cause". Maher said that he did not discuss bilateral relations during his phone conversation with Netanyahu -- most notably the matter of the return of the Egyptian ambassador. Resuming Egyptian diplomatic representation at such a level, Maher explained, "is connected to the resumption of real efforts to achieve peace". "It's too premature," insisted one diplomatic source. "It's just an investigative meeting. We're cornering Sharon, we're telling him we're ready to talk peace -- but our peace," the source added. But Mattar believes that it's only natural that this step be followed by further moves to enhance bilateral relations. Israel, Mattar said, would expect such actions by Egypt in return for concessions to the Palestinians. Egyptian officials insist that agreeing to open a dialogue with Israel does not indicate they will compromise on the fundamental aspects of a political solution to the conflict. This means they will continue to expect Israel to abide by Security Council resolutions and international norms. They will also continue to call upon Israel to resume negotiations that have as their aim the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Cairo's conciliatory moves, then, are directed at giving Sharon a chance to conclude a peace agreement with the Palestinians. "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's election gives him an opportunity to re-evaluate the policies that have failed to achieve [peace and security]," Maher said on 1 February. "It's important to give Prime Minister Sharon the opportunity to express the lessons he has learned in the past period," Maher continued. Observers remain sceptical that a meeting between Mubarak and Sharon will bear any fruit, given that the Israeli prime minister has often made promises he failed to keep, and that his government has been one of the most aggressive in dealing with the Palestinians.
