White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said that canceling President Hosni Mubarak's visit to Washington will affect U.S. President Barack Obama's meetings on the Middle East. "But postponing the visit will not affect Obama's plan for the region," he said. Observers expected the visit to take place in October. In a statement from Washington yesterday, Gibbs said: "canceling the visit is unfortunate, particularly in the light of the tragic death President Mubarak's grandson."
He said Obama's speech to the Muslim world, which will be made from Cairo on June 4, will talk about his approach to the Middle East. He added that Obama and his wife have expressed their condolences to the President over the death of his grandson, pointing out that Obama will meet with Mubarak during his upcoming visit to Cairo. Cairo has informed Washington through the Foreign Ministry yesterday of the cancellation of the visit. Egypt's Ambassador to the United States Sameh Shoukry said that Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit assigned him to inform the White House and the U.S. State Department of the postponement of President Mubarak's visit to Washington due to the sad death of his grandson. He said that he felt great sympathy and appreciation, and that he was asked to relay condolences to President Mubarak and prepare for a new date for the visit at a time suitable for both presidents. A diplomatic source said that no new date has been set for the visit so far, while observers expected it to take place in October, pointing out that Mubarak's visits to Washington usually took place in March or April every year, or sometimes in June or October, as the President preferred not to visit Washington in winter. The source said that President Mubarak's schedule in July is very busy, as it is expected to attend the Summit of Eight in Italy on July 7 and the Non-Aligned Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh on the 16th and 17th of the same month. The observers ruled out August for the visit, as this is the time when the U.S. officials take their leave, in addition to the fact that it would be difficult to postpone the visit for a whole year till next April or May. Politicians said the postponement of the visit will affect Obama's plan for the Middle East peace process. Dr. Wahid Abdel Meguid, Deputy Director of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said the postponement of the visit will have a major impact on the peace process in the Middle East if Obama is planning to announce the new U.S. plan for the Middle East on June 4 in the speech that he will deliver from Cairo. He said that the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and Jordan's King Abdullah II do not really reflect the moderate Arab point of view of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as they are more inclined to Israel. "If Obama depends on his meeting with Abdullah and Abbas only in forming a plan for the Middle East, he would not be expressing the views of many other Arabs," he said.
"The postponement of the visit will not affect anything else but the peace process, which is the most critical matter, since the file of the bilateral relations has been on hold for some years now, and there is no problem in postponing it for a few months more," he explained.
Abdel Meguid also said that a short meeting between Mubarak and Obama in Cairo on June 4 would not have significant impact on the plan if Obama has already settled upon it, adding that the U.S. President will seek to provide an American vision on the peace process through his speech from Cairo, as opposed to talking about improving relations, which would be redundant and boring, pointing out that the Palestinian issue is the most pivotal in the Arab and Islamic street.
Dr. Abdel-Moneim Said, Director of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said President Mubarak's visit to Washington is one of the methods of communication between the Egyptian and American administrations, as there are other methods of communication through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the ambassadors, despite the importance of talking face-to-face. He expected coordination between the two sides in the coming days through visits and contacts between senior officials from both sides for Obama to explore Egypt's view in his new plan for peace in the Middle East. "Obama must be briefed of Cairo's point of view," he said, believing in the possibility of compensating easily for the visit in the coming period.
