Published Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Egypt's President Mohammed Mursi told Israel on Tuesday he wanted peace in the Middle East, in the first official message sent by the Arab state's new Islamist leadership to the Jewish state.Dampening hopes that Mursi might rip up a much-maligned peace treaty between the two countries, the new Egyptian leader failed to condemn the oppression of the Palestinians.
"I am looking forward to exerting our best efforts to get the Middle East peace process back to its right track in order to achieve security and stability for all peoples of the region, including (the) Israeli people," Mursi said in the letter to Israeli President Shimon Peres.
The letter did not make any specific reference to the peace treaty.
A spokesman for Mursi in Cairo could not be reached for comment on the letter, written in English and released by the office of the Israeli president.
Israeli politicians were deeply alarmed by the victory of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mursi in June's presidential vote, with fears that he would open up the border to Palestinians and abandon the peace treaty.
However the Brotherhood has sought US backing for its control of Egypt and Washington has put pressure on Mursi to keep ties with Israel.
An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity welcomed Mursi's letter, saying it was "a general message with a positive spirit, but did not indicate any new direction" in bilateral relations.
Egypt's US-backed president Hosni Mubarak had guaranteed the 1979 peace treaty with Israel for decades until he was ousted in a coup last year.
The Muslim Brotherhood is ideologically hostile to the Jewish state's oppression of Palestinians and before taking office had said they would seek to rewrite the treaty.
Peres had sent Mursi two letters, his office said, one congratulating him for winning the vote and a second letter of greetings to mark the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The Middle East peace process has stalled as Israel refuses to abandon the building of illegal Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank.
The Jewish state was founded on what was historical Palestine. Native Palestinians remain violently suppressed, with many activists and academics worldwide likening Israel's treatment of the indigenous population to apartheid.
(Al-Akhbar, AFP)
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Egypt's President Mohammad Mursi’s spokesman Yassir Ali denied in an interview with the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper on Wednesday that Mursi sent a letter to Zionist President Shimon Peres. The Zionist leader’s office had said on Tuesday that Mursi wrote to Peres pledging to revive the “Israeli-Palestinian peace talks”. "President Mursi did not send any letters to the Israeli president," Mursi said, calling reports that he had done so "slander." Peres's office had quoted Mursi as saying that he looked "forward to exerting our best efforts to get the Middle East peace process back to its right track." Peres sent Mursi a letter of congratulations following his election as the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. |
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