CAIRO: The Middle East peace talks sparked by Annapolis are a final attempt to save US President George W. Bush s reputation before his mandate runs out in 2009, the Egyptian press said in editorials Wednesday.
Tuesday s talks at Annapolis outside Washington were an attempt to improve President Bush s reputation after the fatal blows of his war in Iraq and his confused and hesitant positions on such issues as the Palestinian question, the official Al-Ahram wrote.
Apparently, every American president seeks not to miss the peace train and hangs on to the last wagon by trying to end their mandate with a Middle East peace deal, the pro-government Al-Akhbar wrote.
The paper compared Annapolis, Bush s biggest push for Middle East peace since he took office in 2001, to the Camp David II talks held at the end of his predecessor Bill Clinton s mandate in 2000 which ended in failure.
Bush has seized the opportunity and repeated the same attempt at Annapolis … in the hope of realizing a historic agreement that will erase the mess he has put himself in Iraq, Al-Akhbar continued.
The independent Al-Badil questioned the motives of Arab leaders who hastened to the meeting while leaving all their wounds open: Lebanon without a president, Sudan about to explode, northern Iraq under threat of Turkish invasion and Palestine, in particular the Gaza Strip, in a terrible state.
The answer is that they only went to Annapolis to show their allegiance to the Americans, it said.
The pro-government Al-Gomhuriya wrote ironically that The question is can the country that is occupying Iraq persuade Israel to end its occupation of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon? -AFP
