Mubarak is generally supportive of Israel

by:

MD RASUL HARON
mrasulharon@yahoo.com
History Teacher/Translator/Blogger/
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Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak; born May 4, 1928) is the fourth and current President of theArab Republic of Egypt. He was appointed Vice President in 1975, and assumed the Presidency on October 14, 1981, following the assassination of President Anwar El Sedat. He is the longest-serving Egyptian ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha. Before he entered politics Mubarak was a career officer in the Egyptian Air Force, serving as its commander from 1972 to 1975. Beginning on January 25, 2011,a popular uprising called for his resignation as president of Egypt. On February 1, 2011, Mubarak announced that he will not seek another term in the upcoming presidential election.



Hosni Mubarak



Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Hosni Mubarak is generally supportive of Israel. As he has been involved intensely in the Arab League, he has supported Arab efforts to achieve a lasting peace in the region. The current position of the League is that which was endorsed at the Beirut-Summit, on 28 March 2002. At the summit the league adopted the Arab Peace Initiative, a Saudi-inspired peace plan for the Arab-Israeli conflict. The initiative offered full normalization of the relations with Israel. In exchange, Israel was demanded to withdraw from all occupied territories, including the Golan Heights, to recognize an independent Palestinian State in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital, as well as a "just solution" for the Palestinian refugees. The Peace Initiative was again endorsed at 2007 in the Riyadh Summit. In July 2007, the Arab League sent a mission, consisting of the Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers, to Israel to promote the initiative. The mission was welcomed with reservations by Israel.

On 19 June 2008, Egypt brokered "lull" or pause in hostilities between Israel and Hamas went into effect. The term "lull" is a translation of the Arabic term tahdia. According to The New York Times, neither side fully respected the terms of the cease-fire.

The agreement required Hamas to end rocket attacks on Israel and to enforce the lull throughout Gaza. In exchange, Hamas expected the blockade to end, commerce in Gaza to resume, and truck shipments to be restored to 2005 levels, which was between 500 and 600 trucks per day. Israel tied easing of the blockade to a reduction in rocket fire and gradually re-opened supply lines and permitted around 90 daily truck shipments to enter Gaza, up from around 70 per day. Hamas criticized Israel for its continued blockade while Israel accused Hamas of continued weapons smuggling via tunnels to Egypt and pointed to continued rocket attacks.

When conflict again ensued however Egypt's foreign minister, stated that Hamas had brought it upon itself.

In 2009, Mubarak's government banned the Cairo Anti-war Conference, which has criticised his lack of action against Israel.