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Egypt Won’t Agree To Removing Arafat: Egyptian Analyst
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| Ben-Eliezer
(L) did not succeed in convincing Mubarak (R) to sideline Arafat
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Report
by Lamya Tawfik, IOL Cairo staff
ALEXANDRIA,
Egypt,
July 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli Defense Minister
Binyamin Ben Eliezer said Monday, July 15, that Egypt
and Israel had agreed to "outflank the problem" of
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's role and "find somebody
acceptable to all parties."
"Thank
God, I think we agree that whether Arafat is playing a role or not, it
is better to outflank this problem and find somebody acceptable to all
parties to try to go with the breakthrough," Eliezer said after
meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Mediterranean
port city of Alexandria, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Mubarak
for his part said that Egypt
"was not in agreement" with the Israeli refusal to deal with
Arafat, "but we can try to find a way, without harming Arafat,
that would help [restart] negotiations."
Speaking
to IslamOnline, Dr. Waheed Abdul Majeed, a political analyst from the
Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies said that the visit
was part of ongoing communications between Egypt and Israel to discuss
Palestinian reforms as well as to re-start peace talks.
“Of
course there is a disagreement between Egypt and Israel with regards
to the removal of President Arafat. I think what Egypt is trying to
say is that Arafat is here now, so it is important to deal with the
situation the way it is, until the time of the elections.”
With
regards to the prior meeting with Israeli parliament speaker Avraham
Burg, was probably to discuss a plan presented by the Labor party.
“It’s only a mental exercise that is of no importance to the
current situation,” he said.
He
added that there is a U.S. attempt to remove Arafat, but that Egypt
will never agree to it or give this suggestion any legitimacy.
“It
is difficult to speak now about the results of this meeting because at
this critical point, both sides are discussing their vision,” said
Abdul Majeed.
A
planned meeting between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the
Palestinians Monday, which Egyptian official sources had earlier said
was cancelled, will proceed as planned, a Palestinian diplomat said,
reported AFP.
"The
meeting (between Mubarak and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat)
will take place," Palestinian representative to the Arab League
Mohammed Sobeih told AFP.
"Erekat
arrived in Egypt
yesterday night and this morning he went to Alexandria," Sobeih
said.
Egypt's
state press center had earlier said that the meeting in Mubarak's Ras
el-Tine palace in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria had been
cancelled, without offering a reason.
The
two meetings, the Israeli-Egyptian and Palestinian-Egyptian, come on
the eve of a key New York meeting between moderate Arab states and the
diplomatic "quartet" of the United States, the European
Union, Russia and United Nations, seeking a Middle East peace, AFP
reported.
Egyptian
Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Jordan's Marwan Moasher, along with a
representative of Saudi Arabia's Prince Saud Al-Faisal are scheduled
to meet Tuesday, July 16, with delegates of the quartet.
The
Egyptian, Jordanian and Saudi foreign ministers are then to hold talks
with U.S. President George W. Bush to press him for an Israeli
withdrawal from Palestinian territories.
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