Democratic Palestine : 3 (ص 30)
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- Democratic Palestine : 3 (ص 30)
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reported Kamal Hassan Ali as saying, «The Reagan Administ-
ration has responded to certain Egyptian ideas to revive the
negotiations concerning the Palestinian issue». (A/ Ahram,
December 22.) He expressed his conviction that «The Palesti-
nian leadership now concentrates on political methods...and if
they merely get the hope for a peaceful solution, | believe there
will be no need for more terrorism.» He emphasized that
«Egypt is permanently in contact with Arafat and King Hussein
to encourage them to join the peace process in the area on the
basis of the Reagan initiative.» After his meeting with the US
envoy Rumsfield, Mubarak declared, «We encourage the
Palestinians to cooperate with King Hussein and establish
links to push the Reagan plan to determine peace in the Middle
East.»
A quick reaction came from the official American side in
support of this step, as «an encouraging development in light
of Egypt’s commitment to the Camp David agreement and its
strong support to the Reagan initiative.» In his first press con- |
ference after the Arafat-Mubarak meeting, the US President
expressed his belief that «what President Mubarak is doing is
to talk Mr. Arafat into going back to where he was...to hold con-
tacts with King Hussein and make the peace negotiations, that
is, any peace proposal to move to a new point.» He added,
«Yet it is not necessary that an overall settlement in the Middle
East precedes the settlement in Lebanon.» (as reported in
December 23rd newpapers.)
In summary, nothing is new; the US and Egypt are in
agreement and committed to the policy of Camp David and the
Reagan plan.
Israel - full partner
In the meantime, Schultz had sent a message to the Israeli
Prime Minister, trying to appease him by saying, «The meeting
encourages Jordan to negotiate in order to reach a peaceful
settlement with Israel, similar to what Egypt did before.»
Despite the official Israeli protests, which expressed fear that
the US role might not coincide with their objectives, «Israel was
satisfied to attack Egypt», as was stated by Deputy Prime
Minister David Levy. 3Herald Tribune, December 30.) Eliaho
Ben Eliazer, chairman of the Israeli Foreign Affairs and Sec-
urity Committee and former ambassador to Egypt, declared:
«The main fact remains that Arafat went to Mubarak without
Mubarak’s renouncing the Camp David agreements, and with
the flag of Israel raised over the Israeli embassy in Cairo.» (Al
Ittihad, December 23.) Yitzhak Rabin also stated his opinion:
«Perhaps the meeting will prove to be positive if it enables
Egypt to convince King Hussein to represent the Palestinians
in the peace negotiations.» (Herald Tribune, December 25.)
Shamir called for renewal of the autonomy talks.
Speaking to Yediot Aharanot, Butros Ghali, the Egyptian
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, tried to appease his Israeli
allies by saying that he wanted to «clarify to public opinion in
Israel that Egypt does not intend to work behind Israel's back
30
or deceive it. Egypt is working to save the peace talks from the
stalemate they are suffering.» (A/ Watan, December 31.)
With this commitment to the «honor of Camp David», the
Egyptian authorities rapidly sent their envoy, Shafi Abdel
Hamid, deputy of Foreign Affairs, to Israel to meet David
Kimche, the General Director of. the Foreign Ministry, and
Prime Minister Shamir. After the latter was satisfactorily
appeased, the two discussed «issues of mutual interest to
achieve common objectives». Shamir told the Egyptian envoy
that he «would like to reactivate the autonomy talks for the
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza after the period of
stagnation.» (Herald Tribune, December 30.) According to
Zionist logic, this is limited to civil administration for the popula-
tion without any power over the land.
It is legitimate to ask about the aims of some of Israel's
actions in the recent period. For instance, at the time of the
prisoner exchange when the battle in Tripoli reached its climax,
assurances were given, to Mubarak in particular, of «safe pas-
sage» for Arafat and the Palestinian fighters, without blocking
their departure from Lebanon. In any case, the shrewdness of
the enemy should not be underestimated; Israel takes advan-
tage of every available opportunity to weaken its opponents
and push things in a certain direction - in this case, cornering
Egypt and Jordan, taking into account all possibilities and
options. Since the wise men of international finance capital are
the ones who created «the game of nations», it is easy to
deduce its principles and conclude the modes of reaction
among the national bourgeoisie.
And Jordanian initiatives
In mid-December, King Hussein declared in an interview
with BBC that he-may find himself forced in the near future to
bypass the Arab consensus and be satisfied with an Arab
majority, as the means for joining negotiations on the West
Bank and Gaza. After the Arafat-Mubarak meeting, the King
called to «have as the first point on the agenda of any coming
Arab Summit, reconsideration of the Arab League Charter,
whereby decisions will be by majority and not by consensus.»
(Al Watan, January 1.) In response, Khaled Hassan of Fatah’s
Central Committee stated that desire is mounting to «stop
working according to the principle of consensus in the PLO,
and rely on the majority in making decisions.»
Contacts between Cairo and Amman became active.
Before the Arafat-Mubarak meeting was over, the Minister of
Economy carried a message from Mubarak to the Jordanian
monarch concerning the settlement. Later, the President of
Egypt sent the director of his office for political affairs, Osama
al Baz, «to inform him about the current talks that occurred with
Arafat».
On January Sth, King Hussein abolished the National
Consultative Council and called the Jordanian parliament for
an emergency session. This parliament had not met since the
occupation of the West Bank in 1967, and was indefinitely sus- - هو جزء من
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