ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, 5 September 2007 — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met a string of foreign dignitaries and diplomats yesterday in a bid to avert what he called “another lost opportunity” at a US-sponsored Mideast peace conference in November.
The veteran head of state met Jordan’s King Abdallah, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema and Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair in the northern city of Alexandria to lay the groundwork for the meeting.
The talks were part of a diplomatic flurry which also saw Abdallah meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday and will see EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Cairo for talks with Arab League chief Amr Moussa.
Arab League foreign ministers will also discuss today the upcoming conference in Cairo. “The meetings are aimed at ensuring there is good planning for the conference,” Mubarak’s spokesman Suleiman Awad told journalists in Alexandria.
During the talks, Mubarak called “for a clear agenda and framework,” Awad said, warning that the meeting “should not be a lost opportunity added to the list of previous lost opportunities.” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told a joint news conference with his Jordanian counterpart Abdul Ilah Al-Khatib that “there must be a clear understanding of what this meeting is about... There is a small window of opportunity in which we have a lot to achieve.
“There is a need for progress between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of the meeting to decide on broad principles, and the details can be discussed at the meeting,” he said. The Palestinians are pushing for a deal on “core issues” — the thorniest problems dogging the conflict such as Jerusalem, borders and refugees — ahead of the conference with a view to implementing an agreement then.
Israel has previously ruled out discussing key issues before the conference, saying that both camps should instead create a basis for a deal. Egypt and Jordan also stressed the need for Palestinian national reconciliation after the Palestinian territories were effectively split in two following Hamas’ seizure of the Gaza Strip on June 15.
“National reconciliation is absolutely necessary for the Palestinians because nobody wants two Palestinian states,” D’Alema told reporters. “Everybody agrees unity of the Palestinians is needed. The alternative is a long civil war for the Palestinians.”
Blair did not speak to the press, but Egypt’s official news agency MENA said he discussed with Mubarak “ways of energizing efforts aimed at relaunching the peace process.”
In July, during his maiden visit to the region as envoy of the Quartet — the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States — Blair said he saw a “moment of opportunity” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. US President George W. Bush has called for a Middle East peace conference to jumpstart Israeli-Palestinian talks, which is probably going to be held in November.
Meanwhile, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon yesterday threatened to cut electricity, water and fuel supplies into Gaza if militants in the Hamas-ruled territory continued to fire rockets into Israel. On the eve of a meeting of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Security Cabinet to discuss the situation in Gaza, other senior ministers also called for stepping up pressure on Gaza residents in a bid to stop the fire.
“It is unthinkable to continue to furnish Gaza with electricity, water and fuel while Israeli citizens are live targets of these rockets,” Ramon, a close ally of Olmert, told the Yediot Aharonot daily. “We have to draw a line for the Palestinians. We have to make it be known that for any rocket fire, we will cut for two or three hours the supplies of water, electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Environment Minister Gideon Ezra told public radio that he was also in favor of such a measure. Israel, which withdrew settlers and troops from Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation, continues to provide nearly all utilities for the impoverished territory.
Trade and Industry Eli Yishai said Israel should exert growing pressure on Gaza’s impoverished population in order for them to hamper the rocket launchers. “We should make it clear to the population that firing rockets in fact damages the Palestinians. If the rocket launchers are not bothered by pressure from the outside, they should worry about inside pressure,” Yishai told AFP.
