Clinton, Mubarak Discuss Mideast Peace

C A I R O, Aug. 29, 2000 -- President Clinton and Egyptian PresidentMubarak, emerging as the two main mediators in Mideast peacemaking,committed themselves to finding a solution but indicated nobreakthrough was near after meeting today.

The two met for an hour and a half at a lavish reception room atthe Cairo airport after Clinton touched down in Egypt on the wayhome from an African tour that included a disappointing failure toreach a peace accord for Burundi.

They made no remarks after their meeting, but Amr Moussa,Mubarak’s foreign minister, said the session was “good, positiveand important.”

Moussa said Clinton brought no new plan, “but there are waysand proposals and ideas” that could allow Israelis andPalestinians to move closer together in the next few days.

“But this will require a great effort,” Moussa said.

Summit Review

Dennis Ross, U.S. envoy to the Middle East, said the two leadersreviewed the flurry of peacemaking meetings that followed a failedsummit last month between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat andIsraeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the U.S. presidential retreatCamp David.

The Cairo meeting “was also a chance to consult about how bestto be helpful to the parties and how the two of us (Egypt and theUnited States) can be working together to be most helpful to themin order to try to move toward an agreement,” Ross said.

“We know ... that it is possible to reach an agreement, but thereal question is how to translate that possibility into reality,”Ross added. “There is a possibility and it shouldn’t be lost ...there is a risk that it could be lost.”

Moussa said it was impossible to say whether another Camp Davidstyle summit could soon be convened.

Africa Tour

Clinton flew in from Arusha, Tanzania, where Nelson Mandelaangrily lectured warring factions in one of Africa’s bloodiest warsfor failing to reach a peace agreement.

After encouraging democratic advances in a visit to Nigeria,Clinton had hoped to witness the signing of an accord in Arusha. Hetold ethnic Tutsis and Hutus: “When all is said and done, only youcan bring an end to the bloodshed and sorrow your country hassuffered.”

It was similar to past U.S. messages for the Middle East, whereClinton has played an intense role.

Mubarak said before welcoming Clinton for their early-morningmeeting that he is optimistic that Israel and the Palestinians canreach an agreement by next month.

Clinton stopped in Cairo hoping the Egyptian leader could helpbreak a deadlock over the future of Jerusalem, the key obstacle toan accord. Both Israelis and Palestinians want their capital in thecity revered by Jews, Muslims and Christians.

Egypt ‘Critical to Peace’

“President Mubarak has been critical to this process for 20years now, certainly all the time that I’ve been here. So we aregoing to work together to see if we can find a way to help theparties get over this next big hump,” Clinton said at the start ofthe meeting.

“We are trying to do our best to find a resolution to theproblem in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians,”Mubarak said. “We are making some consultations where we couldhelp the two parties to reach a framework which is veryimportant.”

Publicly at least, the Egyptians have indicated they would nottry to force concessions from Arafat, who stuck to a demand forsovereignty over east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967Mideast war. At Camp David, the Israelis offered only limitedsovereignty, not enough for Arafat but a major step away from theprevious Israeli position.

However, Mubarak has apparently tried to persuade Arafat toshelve his threat to declare Palestinian statehood unilaterally ifnegotiations with Israel failed to provide that dividend by Sept.13, the deadline set by the two sides. Arafat met with Egyptianofficials Saturday in Alexandria, Egypt.

Clinton presided over the failed Israeli-Palestinian peace talksat Camp David, in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, and has sincepledged to do whatever he can to help the two sides along.

He said he decided to visit Mubarak because the Egyptian leaderwas not planning to attend next month’s United Nations Millenniumsummit in New York, where Clinton is to make a broad push to renewIsraeli-Palestinian talks.

Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush,speaking via satellite to the annual convention of B’nai B’rithInternational in Washington, renewed his promise to support movingthe U.S. Embassy from outside Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, “the cityIsrael has chosen as its capital.”

He also praised America’s “special relationship” with Israel.

“My support for Israel is not conditioned upon the outcome ofthe peace process,” Bush said. “America’s special relationshipwith Israel precedes the peace process. Israel’s adversaries shouldknow that in my administration the special relationship willcontinue even if they cannot bring themselves to make peace withthe Jewish state.”