CAIRO: Skepticism is pervasive over the Israeli acceptance of the Arab peace initiative proposed at the March Riyadh summit. "Israel is not convinced by the Arab initiative from a strategic view point, Diaa Rashwan from Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies told The Daily Star Egypt. Rashwan was also skeptical that Egypt and Jordan, delegated by the Arab countries, will be able to push the peace initiative with their Israeli counterparts. "They will not convince them of the initiative because Israel has reservations about Arab demands, especially the right of return [of Palestinian refugees exiled in 1948] which is a red line for Israel as well as returning to the pre-1967 borders which they consider a security concern, he said. Egypt and Jordan, the two Arab nations which have diplomatic relations with Israel, were delegated to begin talks with the Jewish state to promote the peace proposal. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa stated: "Once Israel stops its practices in the Occupied Territories, mainly lifting the sanctions on the Palestinian people, halting the building of settlements and the building of the [security] wall ... then a larger working group will be formed to contact the Israeli government. Till then, Moussa said "there will be no Arab normalization for free. Thrown into the mix is the arrest of an Egyptian nuclear power engineer recently accused of selling Egypt's nuclear secrets to Israel. Mohammed Sayed Saber was arrested Feb. 18 after returning from Hong Kong, and charged with passing on stolen documents from the Atomic Energy Agency to the Mossad. Rashwan however does not believe that this latest spy story will have any effect on wider Egyptian or Arab political relations with Israel. "It doesn't signify huge changes, he said, "the spy stories are nothing new so there is no dramatic fall out. They are often the residue of unfinished cases between two countries that were once at war. "But the timing of these stories may contribute to some ebb and flow in relations, Rashwan added.
