Butros Ghali, the Foreign Minister of Egypt, believes it is time for the European Economic Community (EEC) to pressure the United States to take a more active role in seeking a solution to the Middle East conflict.
But the Egyptian diplomat also said, in an interview published yesterday in the Athens newspaper Vima, that there can be no peace in the Middle East without an agreement between the two superpowers — the United States and the Soviet Union.
Right now, the U.S. has an important role to play. But in the future an agreement between the two superpowers will be necessary, Ghali maintained. He said the time for movement has come, now that the elections in Israel, the U.S. and Egypt are over and the Palestine National Council held its meeting in Amman, Jordan.
“It is time to start again and try to find a peaceful solution to the Palestinian problem. We must act now or we will find ourselves faced with a de facto annexation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, “Ghali said.
Ghali repeated Egypt’s conditions for improved relations with Israel which have been frozen since the war in Lebanon. They are withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese soil; a new policy toward the Palestinians living on the West Bank and Gaza; and arbitration of the Israeli-Egyptian border dispute over Taba.
He said that despite the freeze in relations with Israel, Egypt honors the peace treaty signed in 1979. He said thousands of Israeli tourists continue to visit Egypt.
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