WASHINGTON: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Thursday that President Barack Obama’s administration understands Israeli settlement activity has to end in order to broker peace with the Palestinians.
Aboul Gheit, the first Arab foreign minister to meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also said Clinton would attend an upcoming international conference in Egypt to help rebuild Gaza after the 22-day Hamas-Israel war.
Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Aboul Gheit said he was encouraged by the new administration’s approach to the peace talks that stalled after Israel launched its war on the Hamas-ruled Gaza on Dec. 27.
“They understand very well the situation. They know they will have to exert pressure on all sides to achieve the objective of peace, Aboul Gheit said outside the State Department building.
“They say that they understand the problem of settlement activities and it has to come to an end, the Egyptian top diplomat said.
The preceding administration of George W. Bush relaunched the Palestinian-Israel peace talks in November 2007, but the Arabs complained of the failure to halt settlement activity.
Egypt, the first Arab country to have signed a peace deal with Israel, is the principal Arab mediator in the peace process and is trying to broker a durable ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
Aboul Gheit said it was “premature to comment on prospects for Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations. Some analysts expect the new administration to push these talks, saying they are more promising than the Palestinian track.
Let s first focus on the period of quiet to be re-established – an extended period of quiet. Let s also work on the reconciliation of the Palestinians amongst themselves, Aboul Gheit said.
Both sides called separate ceasefires on Jan. 18, but progress towards a permanent truce has been slow despite repeated announcements of imminent success.
The Egyptian truce plan also calls for Hamas and the US-backed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas Fatah movement to reconcile and form a government that would be acceptable to the international community.
But the two movements have been deeply divided since Hamas wrested control of Gaza from Fatah in 2007, a rift that has widened since the Israeli offensive.
Aboul Gheit said the focus should also be on rebuilding Gaza at the international conference in Egypt.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend an upcoming international conference in Egypt to help rebuild Gaza after the Hamas-Israel war, Aboul Gheit said.
Yes, the secretary will be coming to Cairo on the second of March, Aboul Gheit told reporters after meeting with Clinton in Washington to discuss the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
We expect lots of commitments from everybody, lots of commitments for the reconstruction during the conference, he added.
There was no immediate word from the State Department which usually refrains from announcing the secretary s travel plans until closer to the event.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, after meeting European and Arab leaders in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, announced last month that Egypt would host such a meeting to muster the necessary resources to rebuild Gaza.
The State Department usually refrains from announcing the secretary s travel plans until closer to the event, but a State Department official expected her to travel to the conference.
The Secretary would like to go Cairo, and we are working on the details, the official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
Israel s war in the densely populated coastal strip killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and destroyed infrastructure worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Days after assuming office on Jan. 20, Obama and Clinton named seasoned troubleshooter George Mitchell as the special envoy for the Middle East.
They sent him on a week-long tour of the region in a bid to shore up a fragile ceasefire in Gaza and explore ways to revive the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.
Clinton herself gave no remarks after her meeting with Aboul Gheit. -AFP
