Mubarak to press Obama for Israeli settlement freeze
CAIRO - In White House meetings beginning today, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt is expected to tell the Obama administration that Arab nations want peace, but are unwilling to abide by President Obama’s call to make good-faith concessions to Israel until Israel takes tangible steps like freezing settlements, an Egyptian official said.
As part of its effort to resuscitate the peace process, the Obama administration has asked Arab countries to make small but symbolic gestures to normalize relations with Israel, like allowing planes to fly through their airspace or improving cultural ties. The administration has also asked Israel to freeze all growth in settlements.
Neither side has agreed to Obama’s proposed first steps and so the president is expected to look to Mubarak for help in breaking the latest Middle East deadlock, regional analysts said.
Mubarak flew from Cairo to Washington on Saturday for his first US visit in five years, accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and General Omar Suleiman, chief of Egypt’s intelligence service. He was scheduled to meet today with Vice President Joe Biden and other officials, and is to visit with Obama tomorrow.
Mubarak will tell Obama that from the Arab perspective, the best way to build confidence is to press Israel to freeze settlements, implement an economic plan to improve life in the West Bank, ease pressure on Gaza, and agree to negotiate with all issues on the table, including the status of Jerusalem and refugees, said Ambassador Hossam Zaki, spokesman for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry.
“If they do this and engage immediately in negotiations with Abu Mazen, this is a recipe for openness and the Arabs will make the gestures needed,’’ Zaki said, referring to Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. “But they don’t want to make this first step. They are demanding the Arabs make the first step. The Arabs should not make the first step. They are the occupying power. The occupation must end.’’
In many ways, Mubarak’s visit to Washington signals a new beginning to an old script: As Arabs and Israelis argue which side should go first, Arab states revert to their old roles in the region, and the United States tempers its criticism of Egypt’s political and human rights record in return for Egypt’s regional cooperation.
During the Bush years, the region’s more radical forces, those against the peace process, had the upper hand, including Iran, Syria, and Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip.
But while the dynamics of the region are always fluid, the tone, at the moment, appears to favor those in the peace camp, regional analysts said.
That shift has been attributed in part to Iran being distracted by the internal political tumult over its disputed presidential election, and Obama’s outreach to the Muslim world, especially his speech in Cairo.
