By Anshel Pfeffer
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has failed to get support
from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for his "realignment" plan
during their Sunday meeting in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm
e-Sheikh.
Although Olmert lost very little time in making his second
diplomatic pilgrimage to introduce his plan after meeting with US
President George W. Bush at the White House on May 23, the result
of his meeting with Mubarak on Sunday was still hard to satisfy
him, said political observers.
Olmert, who became Israeli prime minister on May 4, has been
devoted to push his "realignment" plan or convergency plan, which
is designed to evacuate about 70,000 Jewish settlements from parts
of the West Bank and unilaterally fix Israel's final borders by
2010.
As he is not as popular as his predecessor Ariel Sharon within
Israel, he is very eager to get international support for his
unilateral plan, especially after Bush gave a vague reply to his
plan by only saying that it is "interesting".
However, Mubarak, as head of a regional weight, did not show
much flexible either on his long-term opposition to unilateral act
of Israel, insisting that only direct talks with the Palestinians
could help reach peace agreement.
Mubarak reiterated at the Sharm e-Sheikh summit that "there have
to be direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in
order to reach a peace agreement. That is the main mission."
But he also agreed that there should be "a different discussion
if we are not successful in that", which was comprehended by
Israeli side as a kind of concession.
Olmert's advisors considered the "concession" as a success
achieved in the summit, despite that Mubarak has been holding his
tongue on Olmert's plan.
However, Mubarak's silence on Israel's unilateral plan was
apprehended by Olmert's advisors as an attitude of "not rejected",
regardless of the fact that Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abel
Gheit told reporters clearly that "Egypt at this stage is against
any unilateral moves by Israel."
"I don't know of any state in the world that decides its borders
unilaterally without talking to the other side," Gheit
asserted.
Ignoring all of these, Olmert had to commit himself to a meeting
with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a step he has refrained
from taking since he became acting prime minister five months ago,
as a kind of return to Egyptian "concession".
In addition, he had to reiterate that "Israel is committed to
the roadmap plan and to promoting the bilateral track."
This commitment runs to contrary to Israel's policy considering
Abbas as an ineffective partner over the past year.
He also promised at the summit to allocate 50 million Shekels
(US$11 million) for medical aid to the Palestinians and ensure a
unblocked way for aid transmission, despite his initial opposition
to the proposals of his Defense Minister Amir Peretz to transfer
humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
As for his avoided "realignment" plan, Olmert only said after
returning back to Jerusalem from the Sharm e-Sheikh meeting that "
the president (Mubarak) knows what other thoughts I have, but at
the moment we are trying to find a way to get to negotiations."
The Israeli prime minister cherished his fruit from the meeting
with Mubarak by saying that Mubarak had not rebuffed him or his
plan, although the Egyptian president did not give him any real
support either.
(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2006)
