|
Rice meets four Arab foreign ministers in Egypt
2007-03-24
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the southern Egyptian town of Aswan on Saturday at the start of a Middle East tour to explore Arab and Israeli views on possible steps toward peace. Just a few days before an Arab summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Rice meets four Arab foreign ministers friendly toward the United States, from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The summit will confirm an Arab peace initiative launched in 2002 and initially rejected by Israel because of its demand that Israel withdraw from all Arab land captured in 1967. Israel and the United States have recently shown some interest in the Arab peace plan and Rice told reporters on Friday the Arab governments could help by adding "active diplomacy" to the initiative. She also suggested Arab governments take steps toward conciliation with Israel before an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is complete. Their peace plan offers normal relations with Israel after Israel and the Palestinians make peace. The secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, said on Saturday that Arab states have no intention of modifying their initiative to make it more palatable. After talks with the four Arab foreign ministers, known as the Arab Quartet, Rice will meet the intelligence chiefs of the four Arab countries, a State Department official said. On Sunday morning she will have talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at a meeting expected to touch on Egyptian domestic politics and constitutional changes which will go to a national referendum on Monday. Rice said on Friday the United States was concerned and disappointed by the constitutional changes, which human rights and Egyptian opposition groups have called a step away from freedom and democracy. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit dismissed her criticism as unwarranted interference in Egyptian affairs. "Only the Egyptian people have the right to say their views on that referendum. ... If you are not (Egyptian), then thank you very much. It's our own development, our own country," he said. Rice will go on to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where she hopes to persuade Israelis and Palestinians to agree on a common set of issues to discuss, after skepticism about the U.S. commitment to pursuing peace.
|  | | | Profile |
News293 | Gallery | Links | |
| |
|
|
| 
