President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has assured a group of visiting Americans that the Egyptian people no less than his government stand squarely behind fulfillment of the peace treaty with Israel. He expressed confidence that the Israeli government is determined to complete the steps remaining to be carried out under the peace treaty and said the doubters, proven wrong before, will be proven wrong again when Israel completes its withdrawal from Sinai next April.
Mubarak offered his views in more than an hour’s conversation with a delegation of leaders of the American Jewish Committee, headed by Maynard Wishner, AJCommittee president. A report of the meeting was telephoned to AJCommittee headquarters here yesterday from Cairo.
SEES OTHER ARAB STATES JOINING PROCESS
The Egyptian leader was quoted as saying, “The people of Egypt as well as the government are committed to peace forever, as Prime Minister Begin and I pledged together, and we shall not be deterred from carrying out the Camp David process.” He said that any other approach “lacks reality,” the AJCommittee reported.
Mubarak was also reported to have said he was convinced that in time other Arab states would recognize the value of Egypt’s example of pursuing direct negotiations with Israel. In that connection he said the implementation of the peace treaty terms, such as Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai seven months from now, would have positive effects on the attitude of other states in the region. He noted that the normalization of ties between Egypt and Israel were proceeding at a faster rate this year than last year and would accelerate further next year, the AJCommittee report said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
