At the edge of a drop

Weary of the ramifications of a long-term deterioration in the current situation, Powell -- in Cairo on Tuesday -- said that the US would send monitors if need be

(cairolive.com, April 10, 2002)

During a press conference in Cairo on Tuesday US Secretary of State Colin Powell was clear on what Israel's continued assault on Palestinians towns might lead to. 

"Our concern," said Powell, who was standing next to Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher after a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak, "and the reason we are acting so aggressively now with respect to ending the incursion, is we believe that the effect of the incursion, throughout the Arab world and throughout the rest of the world, is very negative with respect to Israel's long-term interest, and in terms of Israel's relations with its neighbors, and in terms of the United States long-term interests in the region, and frankly the world's interest in the region."

Previous stories:
Responding to the masses
Egypt decides to suspend all contacts with the government of Israel, keeping open only those diplomatic channels that could help the Palestinians.
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

Click here to browse the complete dispatch archives

Quoted in a plethora of articles in major US papers, Nabil Osman, Egypt's deputy minister of information, seemed to mirror Powell's sentiments: "The violence of the Israeli onslaught is harming everyone, including the U.S.," Osman said. "[Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon abused your campaign against terror. But he is harming your campaign, and the result will be harm to your interests in the region."

An Egyptian government spokesman quoted by the Chicago Tribune noted that, "Mubarak did not expel the Israeli ambassador. But if he has to, he will do it. You can't stand against the public for long."

"It does not mean the end of the peace treaty," the official told the paper. "But it will be the end of the peace."

The Powell-Maher press conference ended with one of the strongest US calls for sending observers or monitors into the conflict zone to "help with the confidence-building, the restoring of trust between these two sides," as Powell said, a move he hoped would "get us back to where we were a few years ago."

He said that the US was prepared to send observers, and that this was one of the things he had just discussed with Mubarak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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