POLITICS-MIDDLE EAST: Egypt Calls For End To Circle Of Violence

By Cam McGrath Reprint | | Print |

Cam McGrath

Dec 6 2001 (IPS) - Top Egyptian officials have expressed fears that the cycle of violence between the Israelis and Palestinians will continue unless both sides demonstrate a firm commitment to peace.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak dispatched Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher to Israel on Thursday on an urgent peace mission aimed at halting the worst violence in the 14-month-old Palestinian Intifada (uprising).

The mission follows a spate of suicide bombings carried out by Palestinian resistance groups in Jerusalem and Haifa that killed 25 Israelis and wounded more than 200.

Israel retaliated with helicopter gunships, bombarding Palestinian security offices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over two days, killing at least five Palestinians and injuring dozens.

Maher earlier this week offered his condolences to Israel for the suicide blasts, but condemned Israel’s heavy-handed response, which threatens to undermine all hope for peace between Arabs and Israelis. He stressed that violence only breeds more violence.

“Egypt expects Israel to abandon its provocative policies and practices, which do not help attain this objective guaranteeing security for both peoples and stability for the region,” he added.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa put the blame firmly on Israel’s shoulders.”The continued Israeli occupation and Israel’s hostile policies have caused the current logjam in the crisis,” he said in response to the suicide bombings.

His words echo the sentiment of many Egyptians, who believe Palestinians have turned to suicide bombing in desperation. Local media broadcasts describe the suicide bombers as “martyrs” or “self sacrificers”, and repeatedly seek to distinguish between terrorism and Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation.

“Israel’s policy of targeting innocent Palestinian children defending their land… now that is terrorism,” said Hassan Ibrahim, 32, a lorry driver. “Israel should ask itself what made the Palestinians so desperate as to sacrifice their lives.”

Loss of hope, wrote Morsi Attallah in an editorial for Al-Ahram al-Messa’i newspaper. “The Jerusalem and Haifa explosions would never have taken place, had the Palestinians seen a glimmer of hope at the end of the dark tunnel of the peace process,” he said.

The Jerusalem bombing was carried out by Islamist group Hamas to avenge the killing of one of its leaders by Israeli forces, who assassinated him for his alleged role in planning a series of bombings that killed scores of Israelis.

This tit-for-tat violence has gone on for generations and Egyptian officials say the only way to break the deadly cycle is to exercise restraint and return to the negotiating table.

Egyptians view Israel’s attacks on Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority (PA) as counterproductive, pointing out that Israel is demanding the PA to arrest Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants while simultaneously destroying its ability to do so.

“What can Arafat do when he cannot fully exert his control over the disparate parts of Palestinian territory, when occupying forces are targeting PA security personnel and installations, and when every measure is being taken to undermine his authority?” wrote Ibrahim Nafie, editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram, Egypt’s biggest and most respected state-run newspaper.

President Hosni Mubarak is nonetheless said to be upset with Arafat over his failure to rein in Palestinian militants. Arafat, whom Mubarak used to regularly invite to Egypt for consultations, has only visited Cairo once in the last two months.

Mubarak has strongly condemned Israel for its use of force against Palestinians, but recognises that Palestinian militancy threatens to erode U.S. support for peace-making efforts. In talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah this week he called for both Israelis and Palestinians to show restraint and give U.S. peace efforts a chance.

His dispatch of Foreign Minister Maher on a peace mission to Israel reflects his seriousness about bringing to a halt the cycle of violence, a task that requires a concerted effort by all parties.

Egypt and Jordan are the only two sovereign Arab countries to have made peace with Israel.