Mubarak inaugurates Arab Summit in Amman next Tuesday
Egypt-Regional, Politics, 3/24/2001

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is to inaugurate next Tuesday in Jordan the first regular Arab Summit Conference. After inauguration, Mubarak will ask King Abdullah of Jordan to head the session as his country is the head of next Arab Summit.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said Friday that Egypt was closely following the results of Israeli Premier's visit to Washington as it unfolds.

Sharon reportedly asked Washington to take anti-Egyptian punitive measures, including stopping military and economic assistance, because of Cairo's alleged negative position as regards the Middle East peace process.

Moussa said that the reports Cairo would receive from the Egyptian Embassy in Washington on Sharon's visit to the US would confirm or negate such reports. Egypt, he stressed, would take the right decision in dealing with the situation.

Answering a query on US armament to Israel, Moussa said that Egypt would have many arguments on the danger the US armament to Israel imposed on the security of the region and the safety of the Palestinians.

Moussa, commenting on Israel's accusation that Egypt played negative role on peace, said such talk had attributed to Israelis extremism and misunderstanding.

He expounded that the Israelis, as part of their misunderstanding, sought that the Palestinians should accept whatever Israel dictated and that moderation meant pressing the Palestinians to succumb to Israel's demands.

"Whoever talked about justice and objectivity was considered by Israeli extremists as playing a negative role," Moussa said. "The extremists wanted other parties to help them oppress the Palestinians," he added.

Moussa, reaffirmed that the Egyptian role would continue because it was a positive role in order to keep matters in check and come to a balanced fair peace in the interest of both parties, and not one party alone.

Moussa warned against failing to reach a just peace so as not to exacerbate the situation.

He ascertained that the Palestinians were not the source of violence, but they were answering the violence of Israel. Moussa also said that violence should be stopped by the two parties; the Palestinians and Israelis, and not by only one party.

He said that those who initiated the violence and who reacted to it should both stop violence in a bid to resume meaningful talks.

Moussa was answering a query on Israel's demand to Egypt to intervene to make the Palestinians halt violence.

He referred in particular to the necessity of ending Israel's siege to carry out talks, questioning the possibility of having talks while the Palestinians had Israel's pistols at their backs.

On the Iraqi issue, Moussa said that Egypt is against forming an Iraqi government in exile or taking over part of the Iraqi lands to be put under the US mandate.

Moussa was commenting on statements made by a US official who claimed that the US would form a government in exile and would put parts of the Iraqi lands under its protection.

On the Arab decision expected during Amman's Summit on Iraq, Moussa said that the issue was still under discussion with the Iraqis and Kuwaitis.

He denied that there were any Arab discrepancies on lifting sanctions imposed on Iraq.

Moussa refused to comment on the formation of a committee on the Iraq-Kuwait reconciliation before coming to a decision on the issue.

Moussa, however, did not rule out Iraqi-Kuwaiti reconciliation although he did not confirm whether this could be reached on the short run or on the long run.

Moussa denied that Egypt proposed sending forces to the Gulf area when queried about whether the Gulf States, notably Saudi Arabia had turned down an Egyptian bid in that respect.

On the US-Egyptian relations, Moussa urged separating it from the peace stumbles. He said that he could not deny the Israeli impact on the Egyptian-American and the American-Arab relations.

Answering a question about the scheduled Egyptian-American Summit on April 2 and whether the two Egyptian and US leaders would conclude an Egyptian-American Free Trade Agreement, Moussa said that an agreement was not expected on that score during the coming summit.

US Ambassador to Egypt Daniel Kurtzer said recently that the two sides would initiate negotiations on a free trade area during the coming summit, but would not conclude it.

Kurtzer said that the Bush Administration is trying to get the approval of the Congress on giving authority to the government to finalize such agreements without referring them to the Congress for amendments.

Previous Stories:
  Arab world needs new vision, thought, mechanism   (3/22/2001)
  Ebeid reiterates importance of setting up Arab common market   (3/19/2001)
  Amman Summit calls for closer relations with EU, Russia   (3/19/2001)

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