Middle East Peace Process Topic of Lively Debate

Middle East Peace Process Topic of Lively Debate
BY ROBERT STANTON
Rice News Correspondent
February 12, 1998

The aim of peace in the Middle East will not be achieved unless Israel and
its Arab neighbors are willing to reassess their positions, two top Israeli
and Egyptian diplomats agreed.

Egyptian Ambassador Ahmed Maher El Sayed and Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N.
Dore Gold took part in a lively debate on Feb. 5 at Rice University that focused
on how to revive stalled Israeli-Arab peace negotiations.

Edward P. Djerejian, director of Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public
Policy and former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Syria, moderated the program.

El Sayed, the Egyptian ambassador to the United States, said both sides should
work to find common ground to resurrect peace talks stalled since February 1996.

"We need a re-established spirit of partnership," said El Sayed,
who took part in the Camp David peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel.
"We need to talk and understand what the other side is saying."

El Sayed called on Israel to lessen its "siege" of Arab-occupied
territories and said that building more Israeli settlements would only aggravate
Arab frustrations. "We need to stop, examine our swords and decide that
Israel and Palestine will live side by side," he added.

Gold, the permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations, said the
first step to reviving stalled peace negotiations is to stop terrorist groups
whose bombs have killed 250 Israelis and wounded hundreds of others since 1996.

"Israelis have experienced the reality of an unprecedented upsurge of
terrorism in our very cities, including Jerusalem," said Gold.

He lamented the lack of progress in reaching an accord. "Usually when
you sign a peace agreement, people expect security," Gold said, referring
to the Oslo 2 Accord of October 1995.

The debate underscored the very difficult impasse the Arab-Israeli peace process
has reached. However, both sides expressed their strong desire for peace with
security for Arabs and Israeli’s alike.

Former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, welcomed the two ambassadors
to campus and stated: "I think it’s good when you can get these gentlemen
on the same platform, each being very vigorously an advocate of his particular
position."