President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt blamed the attitude of Premier Yitzhak Shamir for his failure to visit Israel. Mubarak, who arrives here Wednesday for a three-day state visit, told the newspaper Le Monde that he had in fact accepted an invitation to visit Israel, extended to him by Shamir when the latter, as Israel’s Foreign Minister, visited Cairo a year ago.
Mubarak said he advised Shamir privately that he would go to Israel but not to Jerusalem “as we do not recognize it as Israel’s capital.” He said Shamir broke an agreement when he revealed this to the press, and when he said on his return to Israel, “If Mubarak does not want to visit Israel, let him stay away.”
According to Mubarak, the future of an Israeli-Egyptian dialogue depends on the flexibility of Shamir. “I hope he will show himself as flexible as (former Premier) Shimon Peres has been,” Mubarak said.
SAYS U.S. CREDIBILITY HAS BEEN UNDERMINED
The Egyptian President maintained that American arms shipments to Iran undermined the “credibility” of the U.S. in the Arab world. He also spoke of his “clash” with the U.S. in 1985 when U.S. Air force planes forced an Egyptian airliner to land at a NATO base in Sicily. The airliner was carrying terrorist suspects in the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro.
The Egyptian leader will be accompanied by six of his Ministers and an entourage of economic and military advisers. He will be guest of honor at a formal dinner at the Elysee Palace and is scheduled to meet twice with President Francois Mitterrand and Premier Jacques Chirac. French officials said the visit will “symbolize the new warm climate which marks Franco-Egyptian ties.”
According to Egyptian sources, Mubarak hopes to convince French leaders to help convene an international conference for Middle East peace. Egypt also hopes for French backing in its efforts to obtain a $1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund and economic assistance from Western Europe.
Mubarak has been to Paris at least 14 times. But his visit starting Wednesday will be the first by any Egyptian head of state to France in an official capacity since the overthrow of King Farouk in 1952. Mubarak’s predecessors, Anwar Sadat and Gamal Abdel Nasser came to France many times on what were working or private visits.
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