Maher shakes hands with Sharon

By Ahmad Maher, IOL Staff

CAIRO, December 22 (IslamOnline.net) – Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher's visit to Israel can neither change the agenda of the right-wing Israeli government of Ariel Sharon nor force Israel to turn off its aggressive policies against the Palestinian people, a Palestinian political expert said Monday, December 22.

The director of the Gaza-based Maqdis Center for Political Studies, Dr. Mohammad Hamza, told IslamOnline.net that Maher's talks with the Israelis, which took place earlier Monday, could by no means press the Israeli Premier into re-shaping his policies based chiefly on the much-hoped and long-awaited security.

"The United States does give Israel a free hand when it comes to security," Hamza said, citing Israel's ongoing reconstruction of the West Bank separation wall, which cuts off vast swathes of Palestinian lands and pre-set the boundary of any future Palestinian state.

The wall will snake some 900 kilometers along the West Bank and leave even larger swathes of its territory on the Israeli side and could cost up to $2.2 million a kilometer.

"And the so-called unilateral steps threatened by Sharon and his 'disengagement plan' is also a case in point," added Hamza, referring to Sharon's keynote speech on Thursday, December 18, in Herzliya, where he vowed to take unilateral steps should Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei fail to fulfill his peace commitments.

He said the Israelis are "throwing the ball in the Palestinian court" by making non-stop calls to what they term “terrorist operations and violence”.

"The most Egypt can reach is hammering out a new ceasefire between the Israelis and the Palestinians by helping both sides reach common ground," he said, who is based in Cairo.

Balance

Asked about the significance of Maher's visit then, Hamza said Egypt wants to strike the right balance between its relations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli government.

"Now that nearly three years have elapsed since the outbreak of the second Intifada [September 2000], Egypt has realized that it is important to strike a balance in its relations with both sides, so that its political initiative in brokering a ceasefire would prove successful," said Hamza.

Hamza said Egypt wants to enhance its "regional role" and boost its earnest efforts to put the peace process back on track and bring the negotiating parties back to the table.

He also said one should put into consideration the high-level Egyptian representation in this visit with sending the country's top diplomat.

He said Egyptian-Israeli relations have slid to all-time low following the second Intifada, with Egypt withdrawing its ambassador, although the diplomatic relations remained in place.

"The tension was highly demonstrated in Sharon's incessant rejection to visit Egypt although ranking Egyptian officials, like Baz and intelligence chief Gen. Omar Soliman, had visited Israel," Hamza said.

"Mubarak, in return, refused to visit Israel, save his whirlwind visit to pay last respect to late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin."

Israel, he added, has also angered Egypt by making a fuss over the armament of the Egyptian army, claiming that it was being armed with "unconventional weapons".

Asked whether the visit would pave the way for the return of the Egyptian ambassador to Israel, Hamza said it is too early to tackle this issue, noting that it would be embarrassing for Egypt to take such a step under the current Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people.

He also ruled out that the visit is the result of U.S. pressures, arguing that it is in the U.S. interest to see Israel having good relations with its Arab neighbors.

Indecision

Hamza further said Egypt has taken a zigzag course in dealing with the successive Israeli governments, whether Labor- or Likud-controlled.

"It is incumbent to say that Egypt does not have a clear-cut vision in reaching a settlement with any of the ruling Israeli parties. There is, in effect, a great deal of Egyptian indecision about how to deal with Sharon, for instance.

"Following the eruption of the second Intifada, Egypt launched a massive media campaign against Sharon…But as days went by and Sharon won a landslide victory in general elections with securing 40 seats in the Knesset, Cairo realized that Sharon was a fact of life and capable of reaching a settlement," said Hamza.

He continued: "And recently, the political advisor to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Dr. Osama al-Baz, took part in the unveiling ceremony of the Labor-backed unofficial Geneva Initiative," an official blueprint for Mideast peace, which was drawn up by a number of Israeli and Palestinian politicians, notably former Israeli justice minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Information minister Yasser Abd Rabu.

He said Egypt should brace itself for the fact that Sharon, even if he lost the coming elections, will remain as strong as he is right now on the Israeli political landscape.

"I do believe that Sharon will remain in office until – at least – 2007, and we should heed that," Hamza said.

"Sharon, however, represents a sweeping political current in Israel…And eve if he was toppled, his party would play a pivotal opposition role in hampering any settlement [with the Palestinians]," he added.

Earlier in the day, the Egyptian Foreign Minister held around an hour of talks with Sharon at his office in Al-Quds [occupied Jerusalem] before heading for a meeting with his counterpart Silvan Shalom in his first visit to Israel for more than two years.

Although the obvious agenda of the visit is to breathe new life into the dormant peace process, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz newspaper said that Sharon had also tackled with Maher the issue of Israeli citizen Azzam Azzam, who has been imprisoned in Egypt for espionage for the past eight years.

Last August, Sharon said Cairo could not be involved in the Middle East peace process if it did not release Azzam.

Egypt, along with Jordan, is one of only two Arab countries to have diplomatic ties with Israel but relations have been strained since the start of the second Palestinian Intifada.

A thaw in relations, however, has been detected in recent weeks with Shalom recently meeting President Mubarak in Geneva.