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Report: US attempting to coordinate Israel, Egypt meeting
According to a report in Yediot Ahronot this morning, the US is working secretly in an attempt to arrange a summit between Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi and a “very high-ranking Israeli official” —most likely Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or President Shimon Peres.
According to the report, the White House is looking into the possibility of arranging a meeting between Mursi and Netanyahu during the UN General Assembly sessions next month in New York. Another possibility is that Peres will be invited to Cairo.
The Yediot Ahronot report adds that US officials have already begun to discuss the idea with Israeli officials. These Israeli officials say that at this stage the meeting is an idea that the US is exploring to see if it is even feasible. “It depends mainly on Mursi, nobody else,” a senior Israeli official said. “Obviously Netanyahu wouldn’t object to such a meeting … But it’s unlikely that Mursi will agree,” the official added.
In his first interview with an international news agency yesterday, Reuters asked Mursi whether he had plans to invite Netanyahu to Cairo. Mursi avoided the question by answering: “Egypt and the Egyptian people will decide on the format of its foreign policy, and whatever is done will be appropriate to Egypt’s interests.”
In the same Reuters interview, Mursi promised to honour the peace treaty with Israel: “We are not against anyone,” he said, being careful not to mention Israel by name. […] When asked whether the security coordination between Egypt and Israel would continue, Mursi replied, “Everyone knows that international relations are not built on disconnection but rather on talks that are held on various levels.”
When reports from Yediot Ahronot contacted Officials in Netanyahu’s bureau last night they said they did not know anything about the idea of a summit with Morsi. A spokesperson for the President’s Residence also said that no information had been received about this issue.
In related news, last night Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that if Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi is serious about peace with Israel he should visit the country.
“We hope that whoever speaks about peace and about stability understands that there can be no hypothetical peace,” said Lieberman. “We hope that Mursi will meet with officials in Israel, that he will be interviewed by Israeli media and that he will visit Jerusalem,” he added.