Monday 17 August 2009

Mubarak's 'people': "They will be tough like the Saudis ...and ask for US 'flexibility with Hamas'..."

Link

The Cable, here

Posted by G, Z, & or B at 11:45 AM

"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, back from Africa, meets with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Four Seasons hotel at 1pm today. Mubarak, in town with a large entourage that includes intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, is due to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House tomorrow.

On the agenda: ".... extremism and terrorism, advancing Arab-Israeli peace, and promoting reform across the Middle East, .......the President will want to discuss how Arab states can help create a context to launch negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, by agreeing to gestures towards Israel in the context of the Arab Peace Initiative."

The Mubarak delegation "will be tough and consistent a la the Saudis on what the Israelis need to do i.e. settlement freeze to get talks started," a former senior George H.W. Bush administration official said. "I am sure they will talk about the Fatah congress and about the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, also recent Al Qaeda threat in Gaza. This should strengthen Mubarak's position for more flexibility from the U.S. in dealing with Hamas."

While the Obama administration has said Hamas has to agree to the Quartet conditions to join a Palestinian unity government -- recognize Israel's right to exist, agree to observe past agreements, and renounce violence, Cairo wants Washington to consider that if Hamas accepts the Saudi-backed Arab Peace Initiative, that would constitute recognition of Israel, the former senior official said. "Some in the U.S. administration don't agree."

"What will be interesting to see is how much stamina Mubarak has during his stay," the former senior official said. "I understand he was pretty frail but in recent weeks seems to have made a comeback."

(NB: Tomorrow, Clinton is due to swear in ............. Assistant Secretary of State for Refugees, Population and Migration Eric Schwartz and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman. Mid week, Clinton heads to Massachusetts for vacation....)

(NB II: Jerusalem: Former Arkansas governor and GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is holding a dinner tonight in the Shepherd Hotel, the site of a controversial Jewish housing construction project in a Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem that is opposed by the U.S. government. The American wing of a group attending the Huckabee Shepherd hotel gala dinner tonight, the American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, has a tax exempt status in the U.S., Ha'aretz reports: "Financing land purchases in East Jerusalem would, therefore, seem to violate the organization's tax-exempt status," the paper reports. "Daniel Luria, chief fund-raiser for Ateret Cohanim in Israel, told Haaretz Sunday that the American organization's registration as an educational entity stemmed from tax considerations. ... He also estimated that 60 percent of Ateret Cohanim's money is raised in the U.S." The group is dedicated to buying up Arab land in Jerusalem.)


Posted by G, Z, & or B at 11:45 AM

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