CAIRO, 2 May 2003 — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in remarks published yesterday that sidelining Palestinian President Yasser Arafat could threaten a new US-led initiative to bring peace to the Middle East. Mubarak also said new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas should secure domestic support before traveling abroad to discuss implementing a plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace released by the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations on Wednesday.
The United States has said it is ready to work with Abbas, having refused to deal with Arafat and called for a new Palestinian leadership “not compromised by terror”. Mubarak said anybody who ignored Arafat, also known as Abu Ammar, would be making a mistake because of his status as Palestinian leader. “Whoever wants to thwart efforts to solve the problem will do so by distancing Abu Ammar from the issue,” Mubarak said in the comments carried by the official Middle East News Agency.
The US Ambassador to Cairo, David Welch, told Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher yesterday that Washington expected Egypt, a US regional ally and traditional Middle East peace broker, to help implement the peace plan, a US Embassy statement said. Washington has said Abbas, who took office on Wednesday, would be invited at some point to meet US President George W. Bush but that an invitation would not be extended to Arafat.
Mubarak said Abbas should not rush to visit Washington. “He must establish his foundations domestically first, and win the confidence of his people. After that he can start to make his moves,” Mubarak said when asked if a trip by Abbas to Washington would help the peace plan’s implementation. Abbas has said he will not visit any foreign capitals to discuss proposals to end a 31-month bloody Palestinian uprising for independence until Israel allowed Arafat to travel freely again. The peace plan envisages a Palestinian state alongside Israel by 2005 after confidence building measures by both sides.
Abbas, meanwhile, has handed key posts in his newly formed Cabinet to a new generation of reformists, sidelining some of the Fatah party old guard in the hope of meeting international demands for change. His lineup won the overwhelming approval of the Palestinian Parliament on Tuesday, with 51 votes in favor and 18 against, after Abbas focused in a speech on the domestic situation, reforming security services and other institutions, and rooting out corruption.
Abbas is also to act as interior minister, while Mohammad Dahlan, whose appointment Abbas only secured following much wrangling with Arafat, was handed the challenging post of internal security. Dahlan, ex-security chief in the Gaza Strip, is also to hold the newly created post of deputy interior minister, pointing to the close cooperation between the two men.
The move results in the sidelining of former Interior Minister Hani Al-Hassan, a member of the Fatah Central Committee and longtime associate of Arafat. Dahlan, who faces the challenging task of reining in Palestinian militant groups that have rejected calls for a ceasefire, is not the only new face in the cabinet. The local government minister portfolio was handed to Jamal Shubaki, replacing Saeb Erekat, another veteran Arafat ally, who was appointed negotiations minister, making the other job he has held for years into a Cabinet post.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Army arrested a British peace activist overnight in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, Palestinian security sources and her organization said yesterday. The media coordinator for the International Solidarity Movement said Romany Smith was acting as a human shield by spending the night in one of the Palestinian houses threatened with demolition along the border with Egypt. “Soldiers came at around 01:30 a.m. (2230 GMT on Wednesday) and took her out. The embassy has been trying to find out where she is but we have so far been unable to locate her,” Tom Wallace told AFP.
Israeli security services were also engaged yesterday in a manhunt for the British citizen who should have blown himself up together with his compatriot in Tel Aviv, amid concern the intifada’s first suicide attack by a foreigner could be linked to the Al-Qaeda terror network. A passport picture of the British Muslim on the run was splashed across the front pages of all Israeli newspapers yesterday morning, with editorialists warning of a new global wave of anti-Israeli attacks.
