Peres, Egyptian president discuss prospects for a comprehensive Arab peace initiative.
By BRENDA GAZZAR, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENTperes mubarak october 23 2008 224.88(photo credit: GPO)
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak defended his government's mediation efforts to secure the release of kidnapped IDF soldier St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit at a press conference following a private meeting with President Shimon Peres Thursday at this Sinai resort, where the two affirmed the need for a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
The Egyptian president, who greeted Peres at the airport and brought several members of his cabinet with him, said the meeting had been constructive, while Peres called the talks "good and deep."
The two elder statesmen focused on Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, the four-month truce between Gaza terrorists and the Jewish state, and "lifting the siege" on the residents of Gaza, Mubarak said. He told journalists Egypt's efforts had succeeded in securing the truce in the Gaza Strip.
Egypt, he added, was continuing to exert efforts to release both Schalit and Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
Asked by an Israeli journalist whether the inability to free Schalit reflected a failure on the part of Egyptian mediation efforts, Mubarak strongly defended his country's involvement in the issue.
"We have not failed. If there was a failure, it's a failure on the other side," he said, apparently referring to Hamas, which has been holding Schalit for more than two years. "And the Israeli side knows full well that we are working for the release of Schalit."
A senior Israeli diplomatic official said Thursday that although there were some governmental voices expressing frustration with Egypt for not being able to mediate a deal for Schalit, this was not the consensus.
One of those critical of Egypt's efforts told The Jerusalem Post that Egypt could, if it wanted to, give Hamas an ultimatum and say that if Schalit were not released, Egypt would ensure that the tunnels from Egypt to Gaza were closed.
"Hamas is living off those tunnels," the source said. "That is how supplies are getting in, and if the tunnels were closed, their situation would be much worse. Egypt could be doing much more."
But a senior Foreign Ministry official said the ministry had no grievance against Cairo in the handling of the matter, and that Egyptian officials had said lately that the problem was that Hamas did not consider it in their interest to make a deal for Schalit at this time.
Following Thursday's meeting, Mubarak also said that the Middle East was going through a number of crises and facing new tensions, making it even more important to bring about a full, comprehensive peace to establish stability and security in the region.
Egypt and the other 21 states of the Arab League have endorsed a plan which offers Israel recognition by the Arab world in exchange for lands captured during the 1967 war.
Peres said he supported the idea of the Arab peace initiative to bring an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict in the region. While there have been difficulties in negotiating with the Palestinians, he said, a comprehensive approach would help to further resolve the Palestinian issue.
"We are conducting negotiations with the Palestinians," Peres said. "Not all problems have been resolved, but the differences of opinion have diminished considerably, and this inspires optimism."
Peres added that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is in the process of forming a new coalition government and could become the next prime minister, was fully aware of the range of issues he had brought up.
Egyptian officials welcomed Thursday's meeting, noting that while the two leaders had met before, the timing was particularly significant.
"This is an opportunity to find out more about the Israeli position at a crucial juncture," said Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki in a phone interview Thursday.
Israel, he said, "will soon have a new government, the United States will usher in a new administration, and rival Palestinian factions have agreed to conduct talks in November in Cairo. Arabs have a peace initiative, and Israel is finally recognizing the need for such an initiative and the need to deal on the basis of such an initiative with the Arab world. This is a welcome development."
Zaki said the Arab initiative offered Israel a clear way out of the conflict.
"It tells Israel that you give up territory, you give back Arab [land], Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese; you give them back their rights and all of the Arab countries will normalize their relations with you and you will become a full-fledged member of this region," he said.
As for Schalit, Zaki said that Egypt had offered its assistance and both parties had expressed their desire for Egypt to continue its role. In order for a deal to be reached, "each side" should show more flexibility, he said, declining to elaborate. "We have to be able to finish this issue as soon as we can."
Some Egyptian analysts say the Peres-Mubarak meeting might even help boost the long-stalled peace process.
In addition to the prospect of new governments in America and Israel, Labor leader and Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently indicated his support of the Arab peace initiative, and Israel is conducting indirect negotiations with Syria.
"If we add the road map, the Annapolis conference, and the Arab initiative, we have good ingredients to launch the process," said Abdel Monem Said Aly, director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. "After the American elections early next year, it should not be delayed. This meeting between Mr. Peres and Mr. Mubarak - the two eldest and wisest politicians in the Middle East - with this material in hand, it could be helpful to the peace process."
Herb Keinon contributed to this report.
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
