Egyptian Radio Urges “Fair International Stances” on Mideast Peace
An Egyptian radio commentary by Muhammad Abd-al-Basir titled: “Arab peace option, prospective international role” says: “When the Arab party has announced, in its 19th summit, that it holds fast to the strategic peace option, this simply means that Arab unity is moving in the right direction and that Israel’s attempts to amend the Arab peace initiative, according to its own notions, have failed.”
The commentary points out that “Arab insistence on peace is aimed at reaching a peaceful settlement with the Israeli party through international legitimacy resolutions.” It adds that “Israel is now required to stretch out the hand of peace to the Arab peace initiative, particularly that the initiative gives the Israeli people, a historic chance for peaceful co-existence with its neighbours in line with the land for peace principle.”
The commentary then says: “It is high time for Israel to realize that its insistence on imposing peace according to its own vision, and in favour of its own aims and interests, without paying any attention to Arabs’ rights, is a limited unilateral vision which does not serve the region’s stability or reflect any intentions towards peace.”
The commentary then says: “What is really astonishing is that Israel’s prime minister, said in statements published in Israeli newspapers, that Israel believes that comprehensive peace with Arabs could be achieved within five years.” The commentary then wonders: “What kind of peace does [Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert wants?” Is it the just peace which is stated by international legitimacy or the peace which strengthens Israel’s hegemony?”
The commentary then points out that “Arabs had their say regarding peace and are awaiting fair international stances that would lead to restore the rights [of the Palestinians] and to commit Israel to take steps on the road to peace.” It adds that “the international quartet is also required to take objective and tangible steps to put peace back on the right track and to convince the region’s countries that the international role is still to be trusted.”
(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.