October 1996, p. 56

Diplomatic Doings

CSIS Hosts Egyptian Foreign Minister

The Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS) hosted Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa for a July 26 discussion of Egypt’s foreign policy and the Arab-Israeli peace process. Moussa, Egypt’s minister of foreign affairs since 1991, offered the Egyptian government’s views on what he called the “prerequisites of peace.”

Focusing primarily on Egypt’s concerns with the newly elected Israeli government’s inaction on the peace process, Moussa warned that the parties must not “return to discussing the ABC’s of peace,” but should continue on the peace path within the already established framework of the Oslo accords. The basis of that framework is the exchange of land for peace, which Moussa warned cannot be replaced by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s vague formulation of “peace for peace.”

The Egyptian foreign minister also commented on the broader theme of Arab-Israeli relations, saying that it is time to “end the sad chapter of tension between Arabs and Israel.” To accomplish that task, Moussa suggested several measures. First and foremost is the need for Israel to establish secure, internationally recognized boundaries and to live within those boundaries safely. To accomplish this, according to the foreign minister, Israel needs to complete negotiations with its Arab neighbors including Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians.

Regarding Syria, Moussa said, “It is time for the country that requested the suspension [of peace talks] to request resumption” of those talks, a reference to Israel’s pre-election request to suspend Israeli-Syrian negotiations until after Israeli elections. He added that Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad “is equally desirous of peace as is Israel,” and efforts should be made by Israel and Syria to resume negotiations over the status of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since they were captured from Syria during the June 1967 war.

Moussa also discussed other regional issues including efforts to make the Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone, and Egypt’s support for incumbent United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, an Egyptian, who “deserves another term,” despite substantial U.S. pressure to the contrary (see the Aug./Sept. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, p. 40).

Concerning weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, the Egyptian foreign minister said that “Any nuclear program, including the one in Israel, must be subject to international inspection and an international legal framework, and if Israel’s is allowed, anyone else who wants one must be allowed to have one.”

Ambassador Moussa concluded his discussion by saying that “we in the Arab world are determined to turn a page to reach peace with Israel.” That peace, he said, “won’t be an Israeli peace,” or “an Arab peace,” but a peace based on the formula of land-for-peace and the “give and take” of Arab-Israeli negotiations.

—Shawn L. Twing