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Heard on the Street

Working Toward Regional Stability

posted on 05/07/08

Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Aboul Gheit, interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, April 18, 2008:

"We have a region in turmoil around us. We have the Palestinian-Israeli dispute that is not yet resolved—trying to do something there. We have a country like Lebanon, paralyzed by internal difficulties. We have a country like Iraq in difficulty— the least to say. We have a Palestinian national movement that has been cracked between two forces. And we have the situation in relation to Iran with all the difficulties that are emanating from the Iranian nuclear file and the ramifications of that nuclear file in relation to the West … So that is a region where we live in and we are responsible—trying all the time to stabilize that region, to ensure that no war erupts, to ensure that the Palestinian- Israeli dispute that has been tormenting all of us for the last 60 years comes to an end in a just manner for the Palestinian people. And there, Egypt puts lots of its own resources and its own diplomatic activity trying to ensure that both sides—Israelis and Palestinians—would reach that point where they can implement … two states living side by side and peace and security for both."