EGYPTIAN presidential spokesman Sulayman Awwad said yesterday that President Husni Mubarak’s talks last Tuesday 31 July with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates took up the condition of the region, especially conditions in Palestine, Iraq and Darfur.
Awwad pointed out that Mubarak, as usual, explained to the US officials Egypt’s viewpoints on Arab issues, especially on the means to break the deadlock in the Middle East peace process and the means to push forward peace efforts in line with a political horizon dealing with the Palestinian cause and the final status solution.
Awwad stressed the importance of paving the way for resuming negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.
He pointed out that President Mubarak had on several occasions reiterated that the Palestinian cause was the crux of the Middle East conflict, adding that addressing the Palestinian problem was the key to dealing with the current regional conditions.
‘The road to Baghdad passes through Jerusalem,’ Awwad quoted Mubarak as having put it as the issue.
Asked if there were American demands of Egypt regarding Iraq, Awwad said he did not like talking about demands from this party or that.
He said that Egypt and President Mubarak were dealing with the Iraqi issue as an Arab cause that concerned friendly people and a sisterly state possessing all the potentials of stability, reconstruction and a return to the Arab ranks.
Preserving Iraq’s unity and sovereignty is one thing Egypt will contribute to, Awwad said, stressing that President Mubarak has been keen on Egypt’s contribution to Iraq’s stability.
The presidential spokesman said that Egypt has no hidden agenda on the Iraqi issue.
Asked about the significance of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Egypt accompanied by Secretary of Defence Robert Gates, the presidential spokesman said the US State Department had talked about a 10-year military assistance to Israel and Egypt worth a total of 43bn US dollars, with Egypt getting only $13bn.
Rice and Gates are aware of the dangerous situation in the Middle East, which requires that the world community exert its utmost efforts to contain the many regional crises, Awwad added.
‘The Middle East is in desperate need of stability and security,’ he said, noting that US President George Bush’s speech on 16 July reflected an awareness of how grave conditions were on the ground.
The Middle East does not need new initiatives, just activating the ones already there, Awwad said in reply to a question about new initiatives.
The Kuwaiti news agency Kuna reported that Kuwait had called on the United States to introduce changes to its policy towards the Middle East, through its Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Muhammad Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah.
Sheikh Muhammad was briefing reporters on the one-day regional meeting between the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council members, Egypt and Jordan along with US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice.
In the meeting he asserted the need for the United States to improve its image in the Middle East which was ‘marred by the Guantanamo camp.’
‘The camp in the US naval base in Cuba represents a flagrant violation of human rights and justice advocated by the US itself, so it must be closed down,’ Sheikh Mohammad stressed.
He also asked the US during the meeting to cooperate with law-abiding charities in the Arab region with a view to replacing the illegal organisations in humanitarian work.
The Kuwaiti senior official voiced hope that the US President George W Bush would veto the bill recently okayed by the Congress on OPEC members.
‘The bill, which makes the OPEC members liable to sanctions, will put those countries in a confrontation with the US. So we hope that President Bush would turn the bill down,’ he pointed out.
As for the extraordinary meeting of Arab League foreign ministers held in Cairo on Monday, Sheikh Mohammad said the meeting reviewed the contacts between Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers on the one hand and Israeli officials on the other to push forward the Arab Peace Initiative.
‘The meeting also discussed Bush’s initiative to hold an international peace conference.
The conferees welcomed the initiative as it includes many new positive points such as the commitment to establish a Palestinian state within the remaining period of Bush’s term,’ he noted.
Arab and US officials are preparing the proposed conference, Sheikh Mohammad said, hoping that the conference would lead to concrete results unlike a similar one held in London two years ago.
Asked about the withdrawal of Syria’s permanent representative to the Arab League ambassador Yusuf Ahmad from the extraordinary meeting of Arab foreign ministers, Sheikh Mohammad said the Syrian delegation to the meeting was present in the meeting but Ahmad had ‘a point of view.’
Meanwhile in Jordan, government spokesman Nasir Judeh said on Tuesday that Israeli media reports which have attributed to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert – that there was a suggestion to send Jordanian troops to the West Bank – are absolutely rejected by Jordan.
‘Many Israeli politicians usually resort to sending out such suggestions, which are definitely rejected by Jordan, irrespective of their source or who propagates for them,’ Judeh said in a statement to Petra.
He added that ‘Apart from being categorically rejected by Jordan, these proposals are meant to send a mistaken gesture or hint that the Palestinian national institutions are incapable of shouldering their responsibilities and to circumvent the Palestinian people’s right to establish their independent state’, Judeh said.
‘Besides, this is an exposed attempt to entrench the idea of separating the West Bank from Gaza Strip,’ he added.
He affirmed that Jordan’s position led by His Majesty King Abdullah ‘is clear and obvious.’
It is based on the necessity to establish the independent Palestinian state.
It should be a viable and geographically connected state on the Palestinian national soil and within the frame of the basic fact that the West Bank and Gaza Strip form one united geographic and demographic unit for this state, he added.
These are all based on the Arab peace initiative, the agreements concluded between the Palestinians and Israelis as well as on terms of reference unanimously approved by the international community, Judeh said.
