Foreign Minister Shimon Peres visited Cairo this week in an effort to ease tensions over Egypt’s repeated demand that Israel sign the nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty when it comes up for renewal in April.
Although the two countries are still at odds over Israel’s nuclear potential, the strained atmosphere between them was eased somewhat following the visit, according to Israeli sources.
Peres met with President Hosni Mubarak and then with Egyptian Foreign Minister Amre Moussa.
The two foreign ministers later told reporters that their countries would continue negotiating. Peres said the dispute should not affect the Mideast peace process.
“We are not shouting at each other”, Moussa said. “We are talking, and we still have time.
“Relations are such that we can discuss things”.
Egypt has threatened not to renew its own signature to the international document unless Israel signs as well. Israel has never officially admitted having nuclear weapons and refuses to open its facilities to international inspection.
The treaty, with 64 signatories, has been in effect since 1970.
Peres made it clear during the meetings that Israel remains adamant in its refusal to attach its own signature to the NPT at this time
However, Peres did put forward a proposal whereby Israel would consider signing the treaty two years after it contracted bilateral peace treaties with all the states in the region, including Iran, Libya and Iraq, the three nations Israel considers its most implacable foes.
According to Israel Television, the Egyptian side did not outright reject the formula, but instead said it was inadequate.
Peres left Egypt without holding a second meeting with Mubarak, which had been held out as a possibility if the two foreign ministers had been able to reach agreement on the issue.
“One ought not differentiate between weapons of annihilation and policies of annihilation,” Peres later told Israeli reporters.
He said Iran was among the countries that still adheres to the policy of seeking to destroy the Jewish state.
Israel, in its diplomatic counterattack against the Egyptian initiative, has been stressing Iran’s known attempts to acquire or produce nuclear technology. Israel has cited Teheran’s ongoing efforts to upgrade its missile capacity by making purchases from foreign countries.
In his public remarks in Cairo, Peres was at pains to allay Egyptian concerns over Israel’s reputed nuclear might.
“What we are doing should not affect Egypt, which is a good neighbor”, he said. “It should affect countries that hope to destroy Israel — like Iran, Iraq and maybe Libya”.
Israeli sources said Mubarak tried hard to soothe frictions between the two countries, which reached ominous levels at a meeting between Moussa and Peres in Washington earlier this month.
There, the two foreign ministers reportedly shouted at each other while their American, Russian, Jordanian and Palestinian colleagues looked on in glum silence.
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