As attempts to salvage a hopelessly deteriorating regional situation continue, Nevine Khalil reports on Cairo's reading of the state of the region Click to view caption As UN inspectors arrived in Baghdad on Monday, President Hosni Mubarak was in Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on the relative easing of tensions on the Iraq front. Two weeks ago, Syria had voted in the Security Council for UN Resolution 1441, giving weapons inspectors a strong mandate to investigate Iraq's alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Baghdad's subsequent agreement to cooperate with the UN team in compliance with Resolution 1441 came as a relief to both Damascus and Cairo, since both capitals wanted to avert a US strike against Iraq which aimed to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power and further de-stabilise the region. In a joint statement, Mubarak and Al- Assad stressed the importance of adhering to international law and order, in order to prevent the bombing of Iraq. The two leaders welcomed Baghdad's "willingness to facilitate the work of the international inspectors to make their mission a success". They hoped that this would eventually lead to the lifting of UN sanctions against Iraq, alleviating the suffering of the Iraqi people and giving momentum to "international calls to make the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons". This remark was in reference to Israel's elusive arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, which has thus far managed to avoid the scrutiny of the international community. The continuing violence in the Palestinian territories was also on Mubarak and Al-Assad's agenda, in light of Tel Aviv's seemingly endless hard-line policies under Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's right-wing government. "There is no other way to achieve peace, security and stability in the Middle East unless Israel withdraws from all Arab lands occupied in 1967, in accordance with the Arab [peace] initiative adopted at the Beirut summit," the statement said. The two presidents also stressed the importance of continuous Arab-Arab coordination to cement Arab unity and activate the mechanisms of joint Arab work, "in order to protect the interests of the Arab nation during this sensitive phase". According to a statement issued by the Syrian foreign ministry, Mubarak's brief visit to Syria is part of wide scale efforts to activate Arab solidarity "in the face of the challenges confronting the Arab world". In recent weeks, Mubarak has consulted with the leaders of Morocco, Tunisia and Libya, while Al-Assad met with Bahraini and Saudi leaders earlier this week. "All these meetings serve to both confront the dangers facing the Arab nation in light of Israel's continued aggressions against the defenceless Palestinian population [as well as to end] the suffering of the Iraqi people," the foreign ministry statement said. A few days earlier, in his address inaugurating the new parliamentary session, Mubarak had lamented the sorry state of Arab affairs, saying that in this changing world of international politics, "the common Arab security net has weakened, and each of us is seeking to pursue separate bilateral economic and political relations with the rest of the world." The result, Mubarak said, has been "our inability to effectively influence events on the international arena pertaining to issues which are vital to our future, such as the Middle East conflict." Mubarak told policy-makers that the world is still under threat from the "phantom of violence and terrorism", which is compounded by unresolved political, economic, regional and international problems. "Relations between nations at this point in time lack the minimal requirements of confidence and reassurance," Mubarak said. "They have unfortunately been replaced by feelings of worry, suspicion and apprehension, which threaten the unity of the world community at its core." Elaborating on this point, Mubarak said that traditional definitions of international relations have changed, with terms like mutual security, aggression, and sovereignty being mutated while new elements such as aggressive self-defence, military operations without an international mandate, double standards and interference in the basic cultural and religious beliefs of nations are now at play. The president told parliamentarians that, "Arabs must close ranks politically and economically," which includes giving more support and weight to the "pivotal" role played by the Arab League in "confronting international pressure on our region". Finally, Arabs must also be wary of attempts to exploit the international campaign against terrorism "to achieve limited political gains, or change leaderships or regimes by force". Mubarak was clearly referring to Washington's call for the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and Tel Aviv's attempts to ouster Palestinian President Yasser Arafat under the pretext that he heads a terrorist Palestinian Authority. Speaking about the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories, Mubarak noted that the recent "crisis" in Israel's domestic political scene -- with the Labour Party withdrawing from Sharon's coalition government -- "indicates that the mainstream political forces inside Israel have begun to re-evaluate their position vis-à- vis the current government". He hoped that this would lead to a "discourse of peace", pledging that Egypt will "work hand-in-hand with all peace-seeking forces in Israel to reach a just and comprehensive peace". Moving onto developments on the Iraqi front, Mubarak told the joint session of parliament's upper and lower houses that while Cairo worked towards an international investigation of Iraq's alleged stockpile of weapons and a UN-sponsored solution of the confrontation with Iraq, "at the same time we still call for -- and insist -- that the same rules be applied to Israel to dispose of all its weapons of mass destruction." This, concluded Mubarak, would free the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction -- "a vital element for a just and comprehensive peace in the region". Related stories: Choices of a lifetime 14 - 20 November 2002 Looking for distinction 14 - 20 November 2002
