Seeking security for all

Egypt is insisting that combating terrorism should go hand in hand with moves towards peace in the Middle East. Nevine Khalil looks at Cairo's latest diplomatic moves
Arafat's Palestine was the centre of discussions during a working luncheon including Mubarak, Peres and Aznar (back row)
Egypt's diplomatic agenda in recent weeks has been exclusively dominated by two issues -- combating terrorism and the Middle East peace process -- and President Hosni Mubarak has been consulting with world leaders on both. Earlier this week, he was in Spain; he is expected to receive French President Jacques Chirac in Cairo soon; and channels of communication with Washington are constantly open.
In his opening address last Friday at the Formentor Forum on the Spanish island of Majorca, Mubarak addressed international concerns following the 11 September attacks against the US, in light of the stalled peace process in the Middle East. The forum -- which is a private sector initiative -- discussed the expansion of the EU and Euro-Mediterranean dialogue.
Mubarak placed a specific emphasis on improving EU-Mediterranean relations as well as stressing the common goals of unity and understanding between cultures.
Speaking on the day after the 10th anniversary of the Madrid peace process, the president outlined what he saw as Europe's role in reaching a comprehensive and just peace in the Middle East. Reaching peace, he said, would help propel the Euro-Mediterranean process forward. He listed the factors which led to the 13-month Intifada, during which at least 692 Palestinians have been killed to date. Israel's failure to implement agreements which it has signed and the country's religiously provocative acts were major factors, Mubarak said. Israeli negotiators have failed to appreciate the limitations faced by their Palestinian counterparts especially on issues such as Jerusalem. The incumbent Israeli government's myopic view of how to achieve peace and its resolution to use force and blockades to oppress the Palestinians are also causing problems, said the president.
Mubarak then spelled out steps which, he said, must be taken to move the peace process in the right direction. Among the president's suggestions were the honest implementation of the Mitchell report and brave decisions by the Palestinian and Israeli leaderships to end violence and restart talks.
Mubarak said that the 11 September attacks were in no way related to the stalled peace process or to US bias for Israel. The president's recipe for ending international terrorism starts with a UN-sponsored conference to combat terrorism. This conference, said Mubarak, must address the kinds of factors which ferment feelings of injustice and double standards, and must end with moves to improve the deteriorating conditions in the Palestinian territories.
In an open discussion afterwards, Mubarak said he could not predict what would happen after the American military strikes against Afghanistan. He expressed hope that the strikes would not last long or be expanded to include other countries, and advised the US not to deploy ground troops. Mubarak also warned that a failure to resolve the Palestinian issue was a sure-fire way to spawn future generations of dangerous terrorists.
The opening day of the forum was marked by a working lunch attended by Mubarak, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Arafat later said that the four had all agreed that Israeli support for the creation of a Palestinian state should be the basis for all future Palestinian-Israeli discussions.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher noted that these discussions had proceeded within the framework of "honest and constructive dialogue," adding that Egypt is working to convince Israel that "everybody's interests lie in reaching a settlement in the Middle East." Mubarak's chief political adviser Osama El-Baz said last week that Israel would not be able to continue challenging world opinion, and that despite America's preoccupation with Afghanistan, "Israel will shortly have to contend with a different tone from the US administration." Maher also said last week that the US "is leaning towards becoming more active and balanced in the peace process, and we want to encourage this." In Spain, Maher noted that continued occupation by Israeli forces will not achieve security for Israel. "We are all willing to concede security to Israel, if it is willing to provide others with security," said Maher.
Egypt is expecting a visit by Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer within days to discuss ways of bringing the Palestinians and the Israelis back to the negotiating table. The visit was apparently agreed upon during the Majorca meeting. To date, Shimon Peres has been the most senior Israeli official to visit Egypt since the election of right-wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in February. Mubarak told Spain's El Pais newspaper that if Sharon wanted peace, he would have achieved it by now. "I do not see Sharon following a [peace] strategy," said Mubarak. "Since he came to power, he has encouraged destruction and bloodshed." Mubarak urged the US and the EU to convince Israel to return to the negotiating table through "warnings, pressure or other means."
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told an interviewer on Egyptian TV that the Palestinian Intifada reflects the frustrations of the Palestinian people but will not solve their problems. Powell said what is needed is to "end the violence [and] I am quite sure you will see a response from the Israeli side." He added that neither the violence nor Israel's reaction to it is helping pave the way for confidence-building and negotiations. He said both sides were to blame, the Palestinian leadership for not doing enough to control the violence, and Israel for using force in retaliation. Focusing on the Mitchell report and the security plan designed by George Tenet , director of the US's CIA, is the best way of restarting the peace talks, according to Powell.
During a meeting with Arafat last Friday, Mubarak discussed the situation in the Palestinian territories, Israel's policy of assassination and continued consultations with Washington. The two leaders mapped future steps to restore calm in the Palestinian territories. Separately with Peres, Mubarak talked about ways of bringing the peace process back on track. Peres later said that this would not be an easy task, "but we have not lost all hope." He demanded that the Palestinians secure the areas under their control and arrest agitators to prevent them from attacking Israel.
Later, Arafat again met with Peres in Brussels, but said the encounter was "more diplomatic -- we did not discuss political issues." Peres took a similar line, saying that the purpose of his meeting with Arafat was to "exchange news, not negotiate."
Aznar and Mubarak met several times during the Majorca visit, to discuss various bilateral, regional and international issues. Mubarak took the opportunity to clarify the Egyptian and Arab position on various issues pertaining to Spain, which will take the EU presidency in January. At a joint news conference, Mubarak said that the Palestinians were "struggling for their rights, and are not terrorists." Aznar, however, said that there was no distinction between shades of terrorism: "terrorists are terrorists and should be punished as such. There are no excuses for terrorist acts." He added that the conflict in the region can be resolved by "will power."
Mubarak affirmed that the land-for-peace formula, agreed upon at the Madrid conference a decade ago, remains the cornerstone of the peace process, and that a second Madrid conference could undermine this principle. "I do not recommend a second Madrid; it would cancel the principle of the first Madrid," the president told the news conference.
Regarding the US-led campaign against terror, Mubarak expressed hope the air strikes would end before the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan in mid-November. He said that he does not expect the US to "expand the fight to other fronts" because that would antagonise world opinion.
A few days later, Powell told Egyptian television that the strikes will not stop during Ramadan, but he added that they are unlikely to expand to other countries. He noted that there was no direct connection between Iraq and either the 11 September attacks or the recent anthrax outbreak and, therefore, "there are no plans at the moment to undertake any other military action."
Powell also said that he was satisfied with Egypt's response to the US effort to combat terrorism. British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon offered the same reaction after talks with Mubarak on Tuesday. Hoon briefed Mubarak about the need to continue to "pressurise the Taliban regime by targeting very precisely their military forces and military installations." Hoon also discussed ways to "get the parties [Palestinians and Israelis] back to the negotiating table." He said he would take a message about the importance of the peace process from Mubarak to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was headed to Washington yesterday (Wednesday) for talks with US President George W Bush.
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