State Information Service- Interview - Oct. 14, 2000Mubarak in an interview with MENA

Saturday, October 14, 2000

Oct. 14, 2000Mubarak in an interview with MENA

President Hosni mubarak Stressed Egypt`s keenness on hosting the proposed Sharm El-Sheikh Summit provided it serves Palestinian interests.

This matter is to be determined by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the President said in an interview with MENA Chief Editor Mahfouz Al-Ansari. President Mubarak, who told Arafat that he was the one to decide, voiced backing to the Palestinian leader in every step he makes.

"We are with him, by his side everywhere he goes," Mubarak said. The Sharm El-Sheikh Summit, proposed to be held on Monday if all parties concerned agree , has captivated the interest of many parties either by calling for hosting it like some European states and Turkey, or by asking to take part in it", President Mubarak said.

Russia has asked to participate at the level of its Foreign Minister, France and Spain as well in addition to EU Comissioner Javier Solana, besides King Abdullah II of Jordan and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, he added.

On the intensive diplomatic contacts over the past two days to contain violence and put an end the Israeli aggression unleashed against the Palestinian people, President Mubarak said in his exclusive interview to MENA: "can you imagine, contacts with various world leaders have not stopped for the past 24 hours."

"On Thursday alone I received and made 64 telephone calls with world leaders and some of them lasted over one or almost two hours," he said.

"On this day, Arafat telephoned me, and I called him seven times, US President Bill Clinton called me and then I called him five times, in addition to the other telephone calls with UN Secretary-General Annan." The President said he also held talks with the Algerian, Tunisian and Syrian Presidents and the Saudi Crown Prince over the telephone, in addition to the President of France and the British and Canadian Prime Ministers.

"The process did not stop from Thursday morning to Friday dawn, efforts have not ceased since that long day of Thursday to this very moment," Mubarak said.

Touching on the grave crisis and reasons behind his uninterrupted efforts, President Mubarak said "the situation is extremely grave and is declining at a high speed. We must rescue the Palestinians from the flagrant aggression and escalating violence."

With many skeptical over the feasibility of the Sharm El-Sheikh summit, some even going as far as saying that its aim is to abort the emergency Arab with some Arab leaders opposing it, the President said that all Arab leaders were in agreement on the necessity of putting an end to Israeli aggression and saving the Palestinian people.

"I am in constant touch with all Arab leaders and they are in constant touch with me, I am keeping them posted on all developments and any new information on the Sharm El-Sheikh Summit or otherwise. We have exchanged views on the developments and we consulted on what we should do.

They all agreed on the need to put an end to this Israeli aggression and to salvage the Palestinian people their from plight. We are in agreement and our actions and moves are concerted. No Arab leader, whether King or President, is against the Sharm El-Sheikh Summit as long as it serves Palestinians and as long as they have consented to it," the President told MENA.

President Mubarak termed as "inaccurate" any reports that said that Sharm El-Sheikh was designed to abort the emergency Arab Summit of October 21.

"I would like to affirm, that both Sharm El-Sheikh, if held, and the Cairo Arab Summit, are working towards the same end: to defend Palestinian rights, to rescue the Palestinian people from aggression and to establish guarantees that would avoid a repeat of what has been taking place in the past weeks and continues to take place at the hands of Israel," he said.

"We are studying matters very carefully, our decisions are based on our commitment to the national interest. and consultations with Arab leaders as I said before do not stop," he added.

"We all remember how fast all Arab leaders responded to my call for an emergency Arab Summit," the President said.

President Mubarak repeated the conditions he had set for hosting a summit that would protect and salvage the interests and dignity of the Palestinian people and contain the deterioration, by bringing together the Palestinian and Israeli leaders in Sharm El-Sheikh together with the Presidents of Egypt and the US. Mubarak said: "that day I emphatically and openly announced that Egypt would neither host nor participate in a summit with the Israeli Prime Minister unless Israel implemented the following five specific conditions:

- Withdraw from Palestinian lands.

- Stop and revoke the Israeli warnings and threats to the Palestinian Authority or any Arab country.

- Pledge that the aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Haram Al- Sharif is not repeated.

- Express readiness to accept the formation of an international commission to investigate the causes of the violence and the announcement of its results to international public opinion.

- That the proposed Sharm El-Sheikh Summit paves the way for the return to the negotiating table to examine Jerusalem within the context of international legitimacy and its resolutions." It is in the light of these five points that Egypt promised to promote the meeting. Foreign Minister Amr Moussa travelled to Riyadh Friday, to exchange views with the Saudi and Syrian Foreign Ministers, President Mubarak told MENA Chief Editor.

"And as I said before, I am in contact with all Arab leaders, and our acceptance to host the summit and participate in it is a conditional acceptance. It is not an Egyptian acceptance that is distant from the will of the Palestinian Authority or our brothers the Arab leaders. They are well-studied stances based on supreme Palestinian and Arab interests," he said.

Here he reiterated that: "the Arab Summit and the Sharm El- Sheikh Summit are both dedicated Palestinian and Arab rights, they are not contradictory."

The President was asked if this international interest in the Sharm El-Sheikh Summit is due to both its hosting and level of participation in it, and after the bitter experiences with the Israeli side if he still had any confidence in the feasibility of the international position and Israel`s abidance by what has been agreed upon. "In all honesty, I say, it is true that world-wide attention exists and there is also the interest of the UN Secretary-General.

but what is also true is that this international interest did not rise to the occasion in terms of aggression, breaches and violence.The world must adopt a firmer and more effective stance to stop this aggression," he urged.

"At the same time, and despite this regrettable reality, Palestinians must be rescued and "we must not allow further deterioration," he added. "Israel wants to bring matters back to normal, it wants especially to return to "area A", but one must return to the negotiating table and on the basis of international law," the President said.

Asked about confidence in the Israeli side and its abidance by what would be agreed upon in Sharm El-Sheikh, President Mubarak said the situation is very difficult and "We have to stop the deliberate escalation and work to salvage the Palestinians. At the same time I regret to say that the rule in Israel is subject to pressure and will of religious extremists." the presiden said.

He said he has told the Israeli Premier frankly that he did not implement what had been agreed upon and that he has to abide by what negotiators have reached and that he has signed himself. "The present situation is not in the interest of anyone, neither Palestinians nor Israelis. It is also detrimental to stability in the region," he added.

The President was asked on the latest attacks on the American destroyer USS Cole off the coast of Aden, the British Embassy in the Yemeni capital in addition to the some other acts of violence in some parts of Europe and whether it meant that the region was on the brink of a new cycle of violence.

"It is not just the Middle East or the conflict region that will face the challenge of terrorism or violence, Mubarak said. "I want to say and warn, that the whole world will turn into an open arena for terrorism without any exception. I have previously warned Clinton and Barak of this matter," he added.

"I told them very clearly that failing to honor the demands of the Palestinian people and their legal rights will trigger violence and push the forces of terrorism and extremism to take action, and that their action will not be limited to just one specific place or region, but will involve all (parts). And maybe what has happened recently is an introduction to this wave that cannot be stopped or curbed, except by returning to the negotiating table, and abiding by the signed agreements, and by giving the Palestinians their legitimate rights," Mubarak said.

He expressed hope that Sharm El-Sheikh Summit would provide an incentive to halt situation from declining further, to return to the negotiating table and to abide by the principles of Madrid, the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

On some calls for war to confront Israel`s aggression and what was his opinion in this respect, President Mubarak told MENA: "We have to know well that war is not an emotional or impulsive decision and should not be so. We have to realize well that war would not solve the problem nor end the struggle. We know war and we have fought several wars.. They need accurate calculation and a comprehensive assessment of the situation."

"We should also know that war means moving complicated conditions and subsequently it leads parties to the negotiating table."

This is what has in fact taken place, as Arabs fought war and the Palestinians fought their battle and their Intifadah, then all headed to the negotiating table, President Mubarak said. What is taking place is progress on some points and regression on others and the duty is to pursue working till all Palestinian and Arab rights are restored on all fronts, he added. "We should not let achievements go in vain as a result of anger or emotional reactions," he noted.

Once more, war does not solve the issue as we should recall our experience in the October 1973 War and what followed it. War activated the situation and opened the door to negotiations, which in turn restored every inch of Egypt`s land, he added.The President reaffirmed that the Sharm El-Sheikh and Cairo Summits did not contradict each other.

"The deterioration must be halted so as not to reach the point of no return, there must be international guarantees, international participation and the participation of the United Nations, Palestinians must be rescued from what they are facing and Sharm El-Sheikh may contribute to this," Mubarak told MENA. "But the Arab Summit, however, has a much greater responsibility, because the Arab right and the Arab Islamic and Christian sanctities are at stake and the Arab Palestinian people are subjected to violence", he said.

"I have called for the emergency Arab Summit for all these reasons, and the Arab leaders all responded to the invitation to affirm their stance and backing of the Palestinian people and their rights," he added. He denied reports that the Arab Summit had only one item on its agenda.

The President said: "The Summit of Arab Leaders is not a single item summit that is convened to only discuss the issue of Jerusalem. It is a summit that is to evaluate the overall Arab situation, to study the present status of the Palestinian issue and Jerusalem and the causes that led to where we stand now."

"The upcoming Arab Summit will be an opportunity to determine our standing as Arabs on the international arena and to keep abreast with the challenges and dangers that are threatening us," he added.

Certainly, a major part of the summit`s efforts will be directed to the support of Palestinian people, strengthening their position and promoting their steadfastness in the face of the aggression and the siege, and also how to provide them with all their needs as they confront a war of siege and starvation, the President told MENA Chief Editor.

The immediate response of all Arab leaders showed a unified and concerted determination to challenge the Israeli aggression and to stand by the side of the Palestinian people, he said. "I think all Arab leaders, without exception, will participate in the summit," he added.

"This is in light of all the contacts I held with all of them, they will all attend unless exceptional circumstances prevent one of them from coming," he said.

The economic file is also on the agenda of the summit and the position of the Arab world on the world economic map with numerous and major economic blocs, he added. On the agenda of the Arab Summit is also the issue of the mechanism to sanction the periodical and annual holding of the Arab Summit, he said.

"Here I want to remind that all Arab countries - unexceptionally - will attend this summit, including Iraq who will send a large delegation under Deputy Premier Tarek Aziz. and this means that a new phase of rallying Arab ranks can begin," the President added.

Asked if foreign pressure was applied to cancel the Arab Summit or empty it of its content and tame it, President Mubarak told MENA Chief Editor: "You know very well and all know that we do not give in to pressure nor do we allow anyone to pressurize us...The Arab nation has a free will and has immediately responded to the call for a meeting, to discuss and consult, in order to adopt resolutions in line with the dangerous situation."

" Those resolutions should be based on a strategy endorsed by the Cairo 1996 Summit which sponsored just and comprehensive peace while at the same time linking between commitment to peace requisites, withdrawal from occupied territories and restoration of Palestinian rights and between regional cooperation and comprehensive peace", he said.

"This is a firm strategy which has its mechanism to be approved by Arab leaders, he added. The primary task of the Arab Summit is to protect the Palestinian people, support them and help them realize full rights", he said.

"On the world`s attitude towards the summit, President Mubarak said: "Let me tell you that the whole world is interested in this summit and closely following it up. The world as I said before, fully realizes the danger of the situation, its escalation and fears that it may slip out control, and wishes to return to the negotiating table for the sake of a just settlement".

In this respect he gave an example of the importance attached by the western world to the Arab Summit and said a western leader contacted him and asked him to work for summit that will not result in vehement and inflexible resolutions. He said he told the western leader that the summit`s activity and resolutions are contingent on the will of the participating Arab leaders.

"Those leaders enjoy wisdom and power that would be reflected on their resolutions which safeguard Arab rights, and promote just peace.. This is their right and their decision and their common will according to prevailing circumstances, conditions and perils threatening the world as a whole", the President added.


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