The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hossam Zaki has confirmed the presence of mediation between Hezbollah and Egypt to solve the crisis between them on the background of arresting a Hezbollah cell in Egypt. The cell was preparing to carry out sabotage operations in Egypt as well as to aid the Palestinians in the Gaza strip. In the meantime, he stressed that the functional tests concerning the Russian Wheat shipment will prove its validity. Zaki in his statement on Thursday to the diplomatic editors said: "There are friendly and appreciated Lebanese figures who sought to solve the matter which they think it can be solved politically. And the Egyptian response which is the same in all conditions was that the issue is under investigation and it will be referred to the Egyptian judiciary that has the final say in the matter. Concerning the Russian Wheat shipment, the spokesman said that Egypt has made clear to the Russian side the details related to Russian Wheat shipment which was seized after its arrival to Egypt. He pointed that the Russian officials inquired about the situation concerning holding a Russian wheat shipment. And he said that Egypt made it clear that the shipment was seized upon a desire to take the needed technical procedures to examine it and to be sure of its validity to enter the Egyptian market. He added that the Russian side, which is one of the principle wheat- importing country, expressed its respect towards the procedures taken. During the visit of the Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit to Moscow, it was agreed on continuing the Egyptian-Russian cooperation regardless of the results of the functional tests of the shipment. In another context, Zaki emphasized that Egypt is waiting for the US stance on details of crystallizing ideas and initiatives related to ways of advancing the peace process in the Middle East. He expressed his hope that the US understands the Arab stance "which is based on establishing the Palestinian state which is the only solution to achieve stability and peace in the region." Concerning the Egyptian vision for the results of the meeting between the US president Barack Obama and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about establishing the Palestinian state, Zaki said: "We have to continue working with the US to enhance its vision, to explain the Arab stance and to achieve Arab-US understanding about the key issues." The spokesman described the US stance which is clear from actions and statements as: "A stance committed with a number of elements supported by the Arab side." He said also: "That is why we welcomed the stance in this time." Relating to the Palestinian dialogue and its time, Ambassador Zaki said: "When Egypt confronted this issue its aim was not to keep the dialogue open for an indefinite period." He added: "The main aim of the dialogue is to achieve reconciliation not to continue in endless rounds especially that some people do not show a suitable cooperation in the success of the dialogue. Thus, the Egyptian goal now is to crystallize this dialogue in order to reach an agreement to be completed in the next round from 5 to 7 in the upcoming June." Zaki continued saying: "The previous rounds of the dialogue have already succeeded in resolving a number of issues such as holding legislative and presidential elections simultaneously in January 2010, having a national agreed government according to certain criteria and having mixed electoral system of the relative and individual systems. Now there is a discussion about the percentage of mixing the two systems."
