Responding to the masses

On Wednesday Egypt decided to suspend all contacts with the government of Israel, keeping open only those diplomatic channels that could help the Palestinians.

(cairolive.com, April 4, 2002)

Quoted by news agencies, Mustafa El-Fiqi, head of the Foreign Relations committee in the People's Assembly, called the government's decision "what we need at this stage." El-Fiqi said it was "an expression of anger," as well as "a message to the Israelis that we respect our commitments," regarding diplomatic relations.
El-Fiqi explained to the news agnecy that Egypt had to move carefully so as not to worsen the  already tense situation in the region.
Also interviewed recently by Al-Ahram, El-Fiqi called Palestinian President Yasser Arafat the "Arab's Nelson Mandela".
Abdel-Moneim Said, who heads the Al- Ahram Political and Strategic Studies Center, described Egypt's move wto news agencies as a "halfway" step toward cutting diplomatic relations. "It's just to leave other things to be done in case it worsens," Said explained.
Unsatisfied, opposition party Al-Wafd demanded a complete cut off of ties with Israel on the front page of the party paper's Thursday edition.
Al-Wafd also wants the Arab League to rescind the peace proposal passed by the Arab summit, and cancel peace as the strategic choice of the Arabs.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, interviewed Wednesday night on CNN, said the Arabs remained committed to peace. 

See previous story:

Anger in the streets
In protests against the deteriorating situation, the calls to expel the Israeli ambassador get louder

Related stories:
Don't listen to the TV generals
Sharon's one-way ticket
The summit begins
Deciding what to do
Friedman's peace plan?
Moussa's message to Sharon

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