Middle East News
By Pakinam Amer
Jun 26, 2007, 22:39 GMT
Cairo - During dinner talks with Saudi's King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak reiterated his calls to the Palestinian factions to end their rift, according to overnight editions of Wednesday's newspapers.
Mubarak and Abdullah held dinner talks late Tuesday and were expected to continue discussion in a working breakfast on Wednesday morning.
The agenda of discussions included so far issues like the Iranian nuclear programme and the continuous blood spilling in Iraq, according to state-owned press.
But in the wake of a key summit that brought Palestinian and Israeli leaders to the meeting table, the Palestinian infighting and the Arab- Israeli dossier dominated the discussions.
The two leaders discussed the developments in the Palestinian territories, now split between the two power factions Hamas and Fatah, and the results of Monday's controversial four-way summit that took place in Sharm el-Sheikh.
The summit, also attended by Jordan, was said to have contributed in splitting the camps of the Palestinians by giving unconditional support to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Two weeks earlier and following intense squabbling, Hamas succeeded in a forcible military takeover of the Gaza strip, with members of its militia posing to the cameras as they tramped through government quarters.
Abbas immediately dissolved the Hamas-led cabinet and installed a more moderate emergency government in place.
It was no secret that one of the aims of the summit was to rally round Abbas, according to Egyptian officials. By supporting his legitimacy, the gathering naturally closed ranks against Hamas or at least increased its isolation.
Arab skepticism nevertheless surfaced especially since Israel failed to deliver on issues such as releasing the full funds of Palestinian tax revenue which are estimated at 700 million dollars, in giving Palestinians more freedom of traffic in Israeli areas or lifting military checkpoints across the West Bank.
Many Arab commentators said on Tuesday that the Israeli leadership had succeeded to 'wriggle out' of larger commitments by distracting its counterparts with the decision of freeing 250 Fatah prisoners whose hands are not stained by Israeli blood - a phrase which Israel uses to refer to militants who performed acts of terrorism against the Jewish state.
Singling out Fatah members from an estimated 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners was meant to drive a wedge between Palestinians, said observers, and was highly questioned by Palestinian leaders.
'Two-hundrred-and-fifty are probably less than the number of Palestinians which Israel arrests every month,' Mostafa al-Barghouty, a prominent Palestinian democracy activist, told the BBC Arabic service on Tuesday.
He dismissed the whole matter as a 'joke' adding that 'it is not beyond Israel to release those with minor crimes and misdemeanours.'
According to independent observers in Egypt, the Israeli 'goodwill' gesture and the so-called 'Arab disappointment' that followed are to be discussed by Mubarak and the Saudi king who is scheduled to proceed to Amman on Wednesday for talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II.
Saudi officials floated the possibility of a meeting between the Saudi King and Abbas. Clearly, the King wants to hold talks with all the Arab leaders who attended the summit.
Observers believe that the Saudis are keen -especially in this timing- on revisiting the Arab-hailed, Saudi-backed peace initiative and bring it back on the table of negotiations.
The Saudis, who are major US allies and regional power brokers, are also expected to okay the Arab position concerning the new emergency government.
Egypt and Jordan were quick to huddle around Abbas. But since the summit, Egypt has been toning down its harsh statements regarding Hamas, and has begun to take a more reconciliatory stance -even if it's only in words.
Mubarak surprised many by sending an open invitation to Fatah and Hamas to negotiate, even though Abbas had earlier termed Hamas' revolt 'a bloody coup.'
On Tuesday, Mubarak even told Israeli television's Channel 1 that in his 'personal opinion' Hamas did not intend to take over Gaza, but rather things got 'out of control,' ending in the assumption of power.
In the Egyptian press, he attempted to reassure the Egyptian people - and perhaps his own regime - that Hamas' control of Gaza is not a direct threat to the national security of Egypt, and that its conflicts with Fatah are strictly 'internal matters' to the Palestinians.
Mubarak was indeed cautious, since the Islamist power that is Hamas arguably poses a threat to his own homeland that suffers the influence of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, from which Hamas draws its spiritual guidance.
Mubarak clearly said the events in Gaza have 'regional' implications, and Egypt would not allow radical Islamic groups to stabilize themselves in his country.
Still, he also insisted on unifying the Palestinian front.
Mubarak's call was warmly received by Hamas.
Sacked Palestinian Premier Ismail Haniyeh told reporters on Tuesday that the Egyptian invitation shows 'awareness and consideration of the nature of the political complications on the Palestinian arena.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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