Israel,
Egypt Cement Warm Relations
By
Lisa Kamins
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem----June
6......Israel Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert met with Egypt President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm e-Sheikh yesterday.
The meeting was described as extremely cordial, warm and productive.
The
following are Olmert's remarks made at his joint press conference with Egypt President
Hosni Mubarak yesterday evening which were communicated to the Israel News Agency
by the Israel Government Press Office.
“I
thank you Mr. President for your invitation to meet with me at Sharm e-Sheikh
and for the warm reception and hospitality that you have provided for myself and
my delegation.
On
behalf of the State of Israel, I would like to express my deepest regret over
the incident that occurred over the weekend in which two Egyptian security personnel
were killed. We have initiated a joint committee to investigate the incident;
we will consider its findings. Similarly, we have instructed our security and
intelligence forces to cooperate on the issue and to make every effort to prevent
a recurrence of such incidents in the future.
We held a fruitful discussion on the main issues on the agenda, mainly ways to
advance negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). I see
you, Mr. President, as a true partner in the effort to bring peace to our region.
I intend to closely consult and work with you in order to advance the peace process.
Your contribution is as vital as it was during the successful implementation of
the Disengagement Plan.
I am very pleased by the cooperation between our countries in the struggle against
global terrorism - a plague that strikes at innocent civilians. We have agreed
to enhance cooperation and coordination between us and between our countries on
this issue.
Mr.
President, I welcome your commitment to advancing and expanding bilateral relations.
As Industry, Trade and Employment Minister, I was fortunate enough to sign our
bilateral QIZ agreement and we discussed this today; I have already instructed
both my successor as Industry, Trade and Employment Minister and the relevant
officials to expand the bilateral QIZ agreement.
Israel
is committed to the Roadmap and to advancing the bilateral channel with Mahmoud
Abbas, the elected Chairman of the PA. My aspiration is to exhaust all avenues
in order to advance this channel. I intend to meet with PA Chairman Abbas in order
to encourage the process that will enable us to achieve progress in accordance
with the Roadmap. I discussed this of course with President Mubarak, who is the
most experienced statesman in our region and is certainly the most experienced
in contacts that could lead to peace agreements.
I
very much hope that the Palestinian partners will utilize this opportunity to
implement all of their commitments in order to make it possible to move forward
in accordance with the Roadmap. Of course, Israel expects that the Palestinian
government will fully implement the demands of the Quartet and the international
community and thus make it possible to hold negotiations on the basis of the Roadmap.
We have not hidden our view that if this does not occur and that if we reach the
conclusion that it will not occur, we will have no alternative but to look for
other ways in order to move the situation in the Middle East and in order to prevent
stalemate from taking over the reality in the Middle East. We also discussed the
humanitarian situation in the PA areas and we will take all measures in order
to prevent a humanitarian crisis. This is also the reason that we decided to allocate
NIS 50 million for medical supplies for the Palestinian population; we are working
in cooperation with the international organizations that are active in Gaza in
order to meet the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian population.
We
also appreciate the humanitarian assistance that Egypt is providing to the Palestinians,
which includes many trucks laden with food and medicines and I informed the President
that I have instructed our people on the ground to remove any bureaucratic obstacles
that might prevent Egypt from delivering the assistance that it is providing to
the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
And lastly,
permit me to take this opportunity to add something personal that is not in the
written statement. Mr. President, this was a very moving personal experience for
me to sit with you now for approximately 1.5 hours, to hold talks and to listen
to one of the most experienced and important leaders that I have had the opportunity
of meeting with.
Bilateral
relations between Israel and Egypt are very fundamental and very important to
our worldview and to the network of relations that we want to build in the region,
and the leadership of Hosni Mubarak is an important key to the success of this
process. I very much thank you Mr. President and I hope that we will be able to
continue both our discussions and bilateral relations in this spirit and in the
atmosphere that has prevailed at our meeting today at Sharm e-Sheikh. Thank you.”
Olmert
campaigned in Israel elections on a practical plan to withdraw from parts of the
West Bank while annexing other parts which Israel has already settled with Jews.
The unilateral plan would amount to redrawing of the border between Israel and
a possible Palestine state. Both in the United States last month and in Egypt
on Sunday, Olmert left open the possibility of a redeployment of Israel forces
in the West Bank through negotiation. "President Mubarak says it's best to have
negotiations to reach a peace settlement, and we agree with that," he said.
The
"demographic" argument for unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and from some areas
of the West Bank is underscored by an Arab population which is increasing rapidly.
In the near future Arabs will outnumber the Jews. Israel and its present government
see it as a 'time-bomb' that can and must be defused. In order to preserve both
the democratic and Zionist-Jewish character of the State of Israel and retain
a large majority of Jews, the present Israel government believes that Israel should
give up land, create a Palestinian state and divest itself (as much as possible)
of and separate from Arab populations.