Efforts should be focused on Palestinian division, expert says The visit to Israel is supposed to come after Aboul Gheit pays a visit to Washington on July 9. Additionally, the EU announced that the Quartet (US, EU, UN and Russia) would convene in July with the "Arab Quartet of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. "At the end of the day, any negotiation now will not be in Arab interests because of the division in Palestine, Diaa Rashwan expert at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies told The Daily Star Egypt. "The priority, he added, "is to solve the problem in Palestine. [This visit] is effort in the wrong direction. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said that the Western and Arab Quartets were "the mechanism the most adapted to kick start the stalled peace process. The meetings were described in the Egyptian statement as "part of Arab efforts to relaunchthe peace process. The current situation however, weakens the Arab hand at the negotiating table according to Rashwan. "Israel benefits the most in the current situation, because it has the upper hand in negotiations, he added. However, the majority of Arab countries, including the Quartet have all declared support for Fatah and its leader Mahmoud Abbas, publicly offering support to his new West Bank government, over Hamas which rules Gaza. "Egypt prefers Fatah that is true, but it is disturbed by the Palestinian schism, Rashwan said, "Egypt sees the division as dangerous to both Palestine as well as itself. Egypt's strategic aim does not support a division between Fatah and Hamas. Rashwan added that, "It seemed that Egypt didn't want the latest Arab summit, but attended on the behest of the Americans. In any case Egyptian foreign policy in this issue is generally along the right lines.
