Arab interest govern Egypt stance towards Israel

Egypt's Foreign Minister Amr Moussa Tuesday said Egypt will deal with Israel according to Arab interests and the resolutions of the emergency pan-Arab summit, which closed in Cairo Sunday.

In an interview with Lebanese " As-Safir" Newspaper, Moussa said that the peace process we have come to know during the past years is over and that the Arabs and Palestinians will not accept to go back to the based-on-previous-standard table of negotiations.

"Priority will be given to the steadfastness of the Palestinians and their resistance to Israel's occupation," he said.

Moussa hailed the convocation of the pan-Arab summit as an achievement he said the summit reflected surmounting the Arab differences and issued very important decisions to support the Palestinian Intifada and held regular summit meetings.

On forming an international crime tribunal to try Israeli officials responsible for mounting anti-Palestinian measures, Moussa said the decision is very important and the Arabs will be very serious in following up this file.

We have indictment sheets of the Israeli criminals and accomplices, he added.

"The new world order at present permits interference in Arab and non-Arab affairs under the pretext of human rights, "he said wondering whether Israeli atrocities against unarmed Palestinians constituted a violation of such human rights.

Moussa said that the US obvious plan towards Israel, on the one hand, hit the peace process, while the Israeli crimes, on the other hand, killed off the process.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister warned that the coming stage would be very critical. He called on the Arabs to advance all the support needed for the Palestinian Intifada, politically and economically.

He said that political efforts should concentrate on freeing the Palestinians from living under threats or return to the previous approach to peace table.

Moussa sounded concerned about the escalation of Israeli violence against the Palestinians, but he said the Intifada would not die and that till now it was a peaceful one. However, this condition may change, he added.

On Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's declaration of taking time-out in peacemaking with the Palestinians, he said that the Israelis were trying to deceive the Arabs and resort to all sorts of bargaining .

"They know very well that threatening to stop peace is meaningless," he said.

In another interview with "Al Diar" newspaper, Moussa said that Egypt would carry out intensive consultations in the coming five weeks.

Barak's threat to stop peace would only be considered at a jest.

The Foreign Minister said that Egypt and all the Arabs had stood by the Lebanese resistance in its struggle to free the occupied Lebanese lands.

Israel was the side that kept some lands under occupation and is responsible for the current goings-on.