Sunday, March 7, 2004
Jerusalem Post : Egyptian Speaker snubs Knesset
Rivlin sent an invitation to Srur with Labor MK Ophir Pines-Paz, who heads the Israel-Egypt Friendship League, when a group of Labor MKs headed by opposition leader Shimon Peres visited Cairo two weeks ago.
Rivlin hoped that if Srur would decline the invitation, the Egyptian parliament would at least send a lower-level replacement to address the Knesset plenum on March 23.
But Srur rejected the offer entirely, sending Rivlin a letter ruling out a visit until Middle East peace is achieved.
Oh, so the guy is planning on being mummified and having his corpse shipped over sometime around the year 3000.
Rivlin said he regretted that Srur declined the invitation. He said the Egyptians have done everything possible to eschew repeated overtures from him, and that Srur has avoided him when they have attended international parliamentary events.
"Instead of coming and showing the world what could be the fruits and prosperity of the peace between Israel and Egypt, he is making conditions," Rivlin said.
"Making such conditions only encourages the Palestinians and Syrians to continue their strategy of terror."
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom is set to visit Egypt on Thursday.
"I was going to bring along a number of important initiatives and cultural exchange proposals, but instead I think I'll see how far I can take a piss off the top of a pyramid," said the infuriated Israeli FM in a follow-up interview.
Anyway, apparently Srur slept on it and thought a bit better of at least some of the edge in his remarks...
JPost: Egyptian Speaker tones down rejection of Rivlin's invitation
The letter followed a harshly-worded rejection letter Rivlin received over the weekend in which Srur said he would only come to the Knesset after Israel withdraws from the territories and a Palestinian state is established. Rivlin criticized that letter, which he said encouraged the Palestinians and Syrians to continue their strategy of terror.
In the new letter, Srur wrote that the peace agreement Israel signed with Egypt 25 years ago is a stage along the way to an all-encompassing peace in the region and can be used as a model for peace accords with other Middle Eastern countries...
...Rivlin said he is glad that Srur toned down the letter from the day before, but the new letter is still unsatisfactory.
"If Egypt truly intends to celebrate the 25th anniversary of signing the peace agreement with Israel, why don't they do it together with us?" Rivlin said.
