Close to the abyss

Egypt says the US must face up to its responsibility to restore calm to the region. Nevine Khalil reports
Against a backdrop of unrelenting strikes against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and worsening conditions on the ground in the Palestinian territories, Cairo intensified consultations this week with Arab countries and Europe.
After travelling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait, President Hosni Mubarak received French President Jacques Chirac in Cairo on Monday to exchange views on how to defuse tensions between Palestinians and Israelis, and prevent the US strikes against terrorism from spilling outside Afghanistan.
There was broad agreement between Mubarak and Chirac in three hours of talks. The two presidents agreed that talks between the Palestinians and Israelis must be revived; that the US should pay more attention to peacemaking in the region; that terrorism and Islam are not synonymous; that Washington should not expand the scope of its strikes to include countries other than Afghanistan; and that the post-Taliban political vacuum should be speedily filled.
Chirac said that Cairo and Paris shared "the same line of thinking and the same viewpoints on many international issues and on the fight against terrorism."
The two presidents urged the US to exert efforts to bring the Palestinians and Israelis to the negotiating table. "The Middle East conflict will not be resolved justly unless the US plays a major role alongside a supporting European role," said Mubarak. He seemed uncertain, however, about the success of his call. "We are making the effort, but it doesn't necessarily mean it will succeed," he told reporters. Mubarak added that there must be "reasons" behind US President George Bush's refusal to receive Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, "but eventually [Bush] must meet [Arafat] and listen to his point of view." Mubarak said that if "Israel decides not to meet Arafat until [another leader] takes over, then this is an illusion because after Arafat it will be difficult to negotiate." The president also doubted that the Palestinians would agree to a proposal to establish their state in the Gaza Strip first, and later expand it to the West Bank. "If they agree, their cause may be buried for ever. [Another] danger lies in the fact that [the proposal] excludes Jerusalem."
A tattered peace process, said Mubarak, would possibly spawn "more generations of vicious terrorists," as well as result in "many regional setbacks which would harm relations between Arab countries and their friends in the West." He further warned that the region "is heading towards the brink of the abyss," as a result of lack of progress in the peace process and that this is bound to harm the interests of all parties.
Chirac agreed that resolving the Middle East conflict is "essential to the success of the international coalition fighting terrorism," advising the Palestinians and Israelis to "return to the negotiating table on the basis of UN resolutions and the principles of Madrid." Chirac noted that there was no "direct link" between the Middle East conflict and international terrorism, and that Al-Qa'eda leader Osama Bin Laden "does not care about the Palestinians." He continued, though, that the situation in the region nurtures feelings of oppression and rage "which jeopardise the world fight against terror."
Mubarak urged that progress in the peace process must be in the form of "effective, tangible steps that are felt by the people in this region in order to give them hope."
Chirac, who met Bush in Washington a few days earlier, was believed to have fresh ideas on how to calm tensions in the Palestinian territories and re- launch Palestinian-Israeli talks, but no new initiatives were announced after his meeting with Mubarak. The French president would only say that he expressed to Bush his "concern regarding the situation in the Middle East and [underlined] the need to hold a new peace conference." This conference would be sponsored by the US, Europe, Russia, the UN, Egypt and Jordan "to gather afresh around a new negotiating table."
In contrast to Chirac, Mubarak had said last week that a second Madrid conference would be unwelcome because it would undermine the principle of land-for-peace which was established at the 1991 Madrid conference that launched the peace process.
Turning to the world effort to combat terrorism, Mubarak reiterated his call for a UN-sponsored anti-terrorism conference and a world convention binding on all countries.
Mubarak also said that striking countries other than Afghanistan would "harm the interests of the world community and unnecessarily open up too many fronts of confrontation." Chirac agreed that "military action must be limited to Afghanistan."
Mubarak and Chirac also believe that "soon" after the strikes against the Taliban come to an end, "political stability should be restored to Afghanistan." Chirac said that any settlement in post- Taliban Afghanistan "can only be reached under the auspices of the UN since it is the only [party] capable of achieving this comprehensively." He also said that the UN is best qualified to act quickly and efficiently in alleviating the suffering of Afghan refugees and Afghans in general.
On his way back from Kuwait on Sunday, Mubarak said he believed that the US strikes against Afghanistan were "aimed at breaking communications and connections between Taliban leaders and Al-Qa'eda figures in Afghanistan." The campaign was also intended to "control and overtake key positions in Afghanistan to disrupt arms and food supplies."
Mubarak's stop in Kuwait after the UAE sought to crystallise an Arab position on current world events and their effects on the Arab region. Mubarak and Crown Prince Saad Al-Abdullah Al- Sabah agreed that terrorism should not be tolerated but must be fought "in all arenas", and that the US strikes should not be expanded to other Arab or Muslim states. Kuwaiti State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohamed Al-Sabah said that both sides criticised the negative media campaign against Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the West, seeing it as a continuation of the verbal attacks against Muslims and Arabs in general.
Mubarak told journalists on the flight back that he "does not care much for these media campaigns because they are baseless and only aim to distort reality and spread lies." These are "blackmail campaigns aiming to end our support for the Palestinian cause and rights," he said, adding that relations with the US administration are "excellent and we have complete understanding."
With UAE head of state Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahayan in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, Mubarak probed the dangers threatening the region because of the current situation in the peace process. Mubarak and Zayed urged the international community to put an end to Israel's aggressive policies and violence against the Palestinians.
Mubarak's chief political adviser Osama El-Baz later told reporters that the two leaders were advising Israel to "stop procrastinating, especially as it will not be able to subdue the Palestinians." El- Baz called on the world community -- especially the US, EU, UN and Russia -- to "point out to Israel its responsibilities, since these [parties] have assisted Israel at one point or another by providing it with weapons, funds and political support."
Mubarak noted that rumoured new initiatives and ideas to revive the peace process are "pointless, unless there is honest intent and will on the part of Israel [to make peace]." He described the situation as "volatile" and said what is needed is action, not words. Mubarak wants to see "specific, clear ideas and a blueprint aimed at a comprehensive plan to bring about a cease-fire and begin final status negotiations."
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