Asserting the primacy of politics

Against the backdrop of the Arab League's foreign ministers meeting this week, Cairo forged ahead with consultations to bring Palestinians and Israelis to the negotiating table, writes Nevine Khalil
President Hosni Mubarak meets with Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen on Monday
Arab foreign ministers, huddled in the Arab Leagues' headquarters on Sunday-Monday, agreed closely to coordinate moves on the Palestinian- Israeli conflict at the UN General Assembly session at the end of this month. Cairo also pressed ahead with efforts to effect a Palestinian-Israeli cease-fire and bring the two parties back to the negotiating table. One way of doing this was a European initiative, heavily discussed, for arranging a meeting between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres: a initiative that has so far remained elusive.
Nevertheless, Cairo made it clear that it had never planned to host the Arafat-Peres meeting, saying it even turned down a Palestinian request to contact the Israelis on the matter. In statements on Tuesday, President Hosni Mubarak said the Palestinians "expressed a wish that this meeting take place in Egypt, and that we convey this wish to the Israelis. Our position was clear: We will not contact the Israelis on this matter, and that the two sides should decide the appropriate venue for this meeting."
Mubarak was reacting to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's statements that he rejected Egypt as a venue for the bilateral meeting. "We never asked or suggested to anyone that we want to host this meeting," said a surprised Mubarak. "It's a baseless delusion [of Sharon's] and another manoeuvre for procrastination."
On Monday, Mubarak held separate talks with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Ireland to discuss the deteriorating conditions in the Palestinian territories.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia were said to be in close contact with the US to revive Washington's role in bringing calm and brokering dialogue between the Palestinians and Israelis. According to Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, the Mitchell report is the best proposal to follow because it "maps out" the road to a political settlement of the conflict. The report, issued in May, calls for a cease-fire followed by a cooling-off period and confidence- building measures, eventually paving the way for a resumption of peace negotiations between the two sides.
Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen pledged that his country, through its membership of the EU and chairmanship of the UN Security Council beginning in October, will do its utmost to facilitate progress in the peace process and the resumption of negotiations between the two sides. Cowen said he was in the region to "hear first hand" the views of its leaders. He noted that now was the time for the political process to regain momentum. The EU is throwing its weight behind the anticipated Arafat-Peres meeting, in the hope that it is the first step towards dialogue. "It is a long road but unless you take the first step, you cannot reach the destination," said Cowen.
Cowen continued that a meeting between the two sides was indispensable. "Presently, we have ... an impasse which is simply feeding a vacuum," warned Cowen. "We need to re-establish the primacy of the political process. It is a very difficult situation at the moment," he added, reporting that Mubarak was "very worried about the deteriorating situation."
Mubarak urged the EU to find a way to implement the Mitchell report. "Everybody agreed to the Mitchell plan, and now we need an implementation mechanism," said Cowen. At the end of September, Mubarak will travel to France and Belgium (the latter currently holds the presidency of the EU) for more talks on the peace process.
Cowen, after his visit to Cairo, travelled to Israel, the occupied territories, Syria and Lebanon. Cowen said that, during his talks with Peres and Arafat, he would encourage them "to proceed with finding a basis for dialogue [without the] pre- imposition of conditions, and finding a basis for goodwill and trust between the parties which is absent at the moment."
Ahead of the Arab League conference, Foreign Minister Maher held a "coordination" meeting with his Jordanian counterpart Abdel-Ilah Al- Khatib, and Nabil Shaath, Palestinian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation. Maher told reporters that the goal of the meeting was to "coordinate" between the three parties in an effort to come up with a concrete plan of action to be discussed at the League conference.
Shaath told reporters that the Arafat-Peres meeting "will not be held without comprehensive preparations and without all of the Mitchell issues [being discussed]."
The goal of the Egyptian efforts, however, is not simply to effect a cease-fire: the wish of the Israeli side. Egypt has a more long-term strategy. "The main goal behind all the efforts that are being exerted currently is to push the peace process forward... This [the cease-fire] is a transitional goal which must lead to a more important goal, which is the resumption of the peace process in order to reach an agreement over the issues that have been postponed to the final phase," Osama El-Baz, political adviser to President Mubarak, explained.
Additional reporting by Soha Abdelaty
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