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Egypt's Envoy Sets Conditions on Return to Israel
Egypt's ambassador to Israel, who has been recalled to protest at Israeli excessive use of force against the Palestinians, said on Wednesday that he wound not return to his post before the Jewish state stops violence.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak recalled Mohammed Bassiouni on November 21, one day after Israeli massive missile attacks on the Gaza Strip. The president has conditioned the envoy's return on, among other things, a cessation of violence by Israel.
Israel must first end its violence against the Palestinians and restore calm in the Palestinian territories so that the Palestinian people will have a safe environment for their life and properties, Bassiouni said.
The two months of bloody clashes between Israeli troops and unarmed Palestinian civilians have left more than 280 people dead, most of them Palestinians, and thousands of others wounded.
Cairo was also demanding Israel take confidence-building measures to mend the fences, the diplomat was quoted as saying by Egypt's Middle East News Agency. He did not give details.
Bassiouni said that revival of the peace talks under international resolutions and the land-for-peace principle was another must for the normalization of the Egyptian-Israeli relations.
Israel reacted to Egypt's withdrawal of the ambassador by saying that its mediatory role in the peace process would be undermined.
Bassiouni, however, reaffirmed Cairo's commitment to mediating the Mideast peace process, saying that his country's peacemaking role remains "firm, central and pivotal."
Egypt, the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, has been playing a key mediatory role in the Mideast peace process.
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