Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's sleepy summer-time visit to Washington is purposefully timed. He wants to avoid Congressional scrutiny of his government's human rights abuses, the anti-Semitic Egyptian publishing industry, Egypt's massive military build-up, and its very mixed record in regional peacemaking.
Mubarak visited Washington last in 2003 and in 1998 before that. Prior to the 1998 visit, at a time of great Egyptian-Israeli tensions, I wrote a in a column in The Jerusalem Post that Congress should "make Mubarak sweat," which infuriated the Egyptians. Al Ahram in Cairo even reprinted the full column in Arabic on their front page to demonstrate how much, in their words, "Israelis hate Egypt."
Egypt is, of course, too large and important a country to write-off as an enemy, and the Egypt-Israel peace, however cold, is a regional strategic cornerstone.
But for years Cairo has done everything possible to prevent the normalization of relations with Israel by any other Arab states. Mubarak has consistently opposed the reconvening of the so-called multilateral committees, effectively shutting-down this second-tier negotiating track. Egypt also impeded Israel's attempts to be accepted into a regional grouping at the UN, and has backed the attempt to label settlements as war crimes under international conventions. At the moment, too, Mubarak has rejected President Obama's call for Arab world good-faith concessions to Israel.
IN THE sixteen years since the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies was established - a center named in honor of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty - not a single top-level Egyptian academic or military strategist has deigned (or dared) to participate in a conference at the Center in Israel!
And of course, Mubarak has no plans to himself visit Israel. In fact, he has never made a state visit to Israel. (Paying his respects at Yitzhak Rabin's funeral doesn't count).
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's sleepy summer-time visit to Washington is purposefully timed. He wants to avoid Congressional scrutiny of his government's human rights abuses, the anti-Semitic Egyptian publishing industry, Egypt's massive military build-up, and its very mixed record in regional peacemaking.
Mubarak visited Washington last in 2003 and in 1998 before that. Prior to the 1998 visit, at a time of great Egyptian-Israeli tensions, I wrote a in a column in The Jerusalem Post that Congress should "make Mubarak sweat," which infuriated the Egyptians. Al Ahram in Cairo even reprinted the full column in Arabic on their front page to demonstrate how much, in their words, "Israelis hate Egypt."
Egypt is, of course, too large and important a country to write-off as an enemy, and the Egypt-Israel peace, however cold, is a regional strategic cornerstone.
But for years Cairo has done everything possible to prevent the normalization of relations with Israel by any other Arab states. Mubarak has consistently opposed the reconvening of the so-called multilateral committees, effectively shutting-down this second-tier negotiating track. Egypt also impeded Israel's attempts to be accepted into a regional grouping at the UN, and has backed the attempt to label settlements as war crimes under international conventions. At the moment, too, Mubarak has rejected President Obama's call for Arab world good-faith concessions to Israel.
IN THE sixteen years since the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies was established - a center named in honor of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty - not a single top-level Egyptian academic or military strategist has deigned (or dared) to participate in a conference at the Center in Israel!
And of course, Mubarak has no plans to himself visit Israel. In fact, he has never made a state visit to Israel. (Paying his respects at Yitzhak Rabin's funeral doesn't count).
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's sleepy summer-time visit to Washington is purposefully timed. He wants to avoid Congressional scrutiny of his government's human rights abuses, the anti-Semitic Egyptian publishing industry, Egypt's massive military build-up, and its very mixed record in regional peacemaking.
Mubarak visited Washington last in 2003 and in 1998 before that. Prior to the 1998 visit, at a time of great Egyptian-Israeli tensions, I wrote a in a column in The Jerusalem Post that Congress should "make Mubarak sweat," which infuriated the Egyptians. Al Ahram in Cairo even reprinted the full column in Arabic on their front page to demonstrate how much, in their words, "Israelis hate Egypt."
Egypt is, of course, too large and important a country to write-off as an enemy, and the Egypt-Israel peace, however cold, is a regional strategic cornerstone.
But for years Cairo has done everything possible to prevent the normalization of relations with Israel by any other Arab states. Mubarak has consistently opposed the reconvening of the so-called multilateral committees, effectively shutting-down this second-tier negotiating track. Egypt also impeded Israel's attempts to be accepted into a regional grouping at the UN, and has backed the attempt to label settlements as war crimes under international conventions. At the moment, too, Mubarak has rejected President Obama's call for Arab world good-faith concessions to Israel.
IN THE sixteen years since the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies was established - a center named in honor of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty - not a single top-level Egyptian academic or military strategist has deigned (or dared) to participate in a conference at the Center in Israel!
And of course, Mubarak has no plans to himself visit Israel. In fact, he has never made a state visit to Israel. (Paying his respects at Yitzhak Rabin's funeral doesn't count).
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's sleepy summer-time visit to Washington is purposefully timed. He wants to avoid Congressional scrutiny of his government's human rights abuses, the anti-Semitic Egyptian publishing industry, Egypt's massive military build-up, and its very mixed record in regional peacemaking.
Mubarak visited Washington last in 2003 and in 1998 before that. Prior to the 1998 visit, at a time of great Egyptian-Israeli tensions, I wrote a in a column in The Jerusalem Post that Congress should "make Mubarak sweat," which infuriated the Egyptians. Al Ahram in Cairo even reprinted the full column in Arabic on their front page to demonstrate how much, in their words, "Israelis hate Egypt."
Egypt is, of course, too large and important a country to write-off as an enemy, and the Egypt-Israel peace, however cold, is a regional strategic cornerstone.
But for years Cairo has done everything possible to prevent the normalization of relations with Israel by any other Arab states. Mubarak has consistently opposed the reconvening of the so-called multilateral committees, effectively shutting-down this second-tier negotiating track. Egypt also impeded Israel's attempts to be accepted into a regional grouping at the UN, and has backed the attempt to label settlements as war crimes under international conventions. At the moment, too, Mubarak has rejected President Obama's call for Arab world good-faith concessions to Israel.
IN THE sixteen years since the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies was established - a center named in honor of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty - not a single top-level Egyptian academic or military strategist has deigned (or dared) to participate in a conference at the Center in Israel!
And of course, Mubarak has no plans to himself visit Israel. In fact, he has never made a state visit to Israel. (Paying his respects at Yitzhak Rabin's funeral doesn't count).
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's sleepy summer-time visit to Washington is purposefully timed. He wants to avoid Congressional scrutiny of his government's human rights abuses, the anti-Semitic Egyptian publishing industry, Egypt's massive military build-up, and its very mixed record in regional peacemaking.
Mubarak visited Washington last in 2003 and in 1998 before that. Prior to the 1998 visit, at a time of great Egyptian-Israeli tensions, I wrote a in a column in The Jerusalem Post that Congress should "make Mubarak sweat," which infuriated the Egyptians. Al Ahram in Cairo even reprinted the full column in Arabic on their front page to demonstrate how much, in their words, "Israelis hate Egypt."
Egypt is, of course, too large and important a country to write-off as an enemy, and the Egypt-Israel peace, however cold, is a regional strategic cornerstone.
But for years Cairo has done everything possible to prevent the normalization of relations with Israel by any other Arab states. Mubarak has consistently opposed the reconvening of the so-called multilateral committees, effectively shutting-down this second-tier negotiating track. Egypt also impeded Israel's attempts to be accepted into a regional grouping at the UN, and has backed the attempt to label settlements as war crimes under international conventions. At the moment, too, Mubarak has rejected President Obama's call for Arab world good-faith concessions to Israel.
IN THE sixteen years since the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies was established - a center named in honor of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty - not a single top-level Egyptian academic or military strategist has deigned (or dared) to participate in a conference at the Center in Israel!
And of course, Mubarak has no plans to himself visit Israel. In fact, he has never made a state visit to Israel. (Paying his respects at Yitzhak Rabin's funeral doesn't count).
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's sleepy summer-time visit to Washington is purposefully timed. He wants to avoid Congressional scrutiny of his government's human rights abuses, the anti-Semitic Egyptian publishing industry, Egypt's massive military build-up, and its very mixed record in regional peacemaking.
Mubarak visited Washington last in 2003 and in 1998 before that. Prior to the 1998 visit, at a time of great Egyptian-Israeli tensions, I wrote a in a column in The Jerusalem Post that Congress should "make Mubarak sweat," which infuriated the Egyptians. Al Ahram in Cairo even reprinted the full column in Arabic on their front page to demonstrate how much, in their words, "Israelis hate Egypt."
Egypt is, of course, too large and important a country to write-off as an enemy, and the Egypt-Israel peace, however cold, is a regional strategic cornerstone.
But for years Cairo has done everything possible to prevent the normalization of relations with Israel by any other Arab states. Mubarak has consistently opposed the reconvening of the so-called multilateral committees, effectively shutting-down this second-tier negotiating track. Egypt also impeded Israel's attempts to be accepted into a regional grouping at the UN, and has backed the attempt to label settlements as war crimes under international conventions. At the moment, too, Mubarak has rejected President Obama's call for Arab world good-faith concessions to Israel.
IN THE sixteen years since the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies was established - a center named in honor of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty - not a single top-level Egyptian academic or military strategist has deigned (or dared) to participate in a conference at the Center in Israel!
And of course, Mubarak has no plans to himself visit Israel. In fact, he has never made a state visit to Israel. (Paying his respects at Yitzhak Rabin's funeral doesn't count).
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's sleepy summer-time visit to Washington is purposefully timed. He wants to avoid Congressional scrutiny of his government's human rights abuses, the anti-Semitic Egyptian publishing industry, Egypt's massive military build-up, and its very mixed record in regional peacemaking.
Mubarak visited Washington last in 2003 and in 1998 before that. Prior to the 1998 visit, at a time of great Egyptian-Israeli tensions, I wrote a in a column in The Jerusalem Post that Congress should "make Mubarak sweat," which infuriated the Egyptians. Al Ahram in Cairo even reprinted the full column in Arabic on their front page to demonstrate how much, in their words, "Israelis hate Egypt."
Egypt is, of course, too large and important a country to write-off as an enemy, and the Egypt-Israel peace, however cold, is a regional strategic cornerstone.
But for years Cairo has done everything possible to prevent the normalization of relations with Israel by any other Arab states. Mubarak has consistently opposed the reconvening of the so-called multilateral committees, effectively shutting-down this second-tier negotiating track. Egypt also impeded Israel's attempts to be accepted into a regional grouping at the UN, and has backed the attempt to label settlements as war crimes under international conventions. At the moment, too, Mubarak has rejected President Obama's call for Arab world good-faith concessions to Israel.
IN THE sixteen years since the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies was established - a center named in honor of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty - not a single top-level Egyptian academic or military strategist has deigned (or dared) to participate in a conference at the Center in Israel!
And of course, Mubarak has no plans to himself visit Israel. In fact, he has never made a state visit to Israel. (Paying his respects at Yitzhak Rabin's funeral doesn't count).
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's sleepy summer-time visit to Washington is purposefully timed. He wants to avoid Congressional scrutiny of his government's human rights abuses, the anti-Semitic Egyptian publishing industry, Egypt's massive military build-up, and its very mixed record in regional peacemaking.
Mubarak visited Washington last in 2003 and in 1998 before that. Prior to the 1998 visit, at a time of great Egyptian-Israeli tensions, I wrote a in a column in The Jerusalem Post that Congress should "make Mubarak sweat," which infuriated the Egyptians. Al Ahram in Cairo even reprinted the full column in Arabic on their front page to demonstrate how much, in their words, "Israelis hate Egypt."
Egypt is, of course, too large and important a country to write-off as an enemy, and the Egypt-Israel peace, however cold, is a regional strategic cornerstone.
But for years Cairo has done everything possible to prevent the normalization of relations with Israel by any other Arab states. Mubarak has consistently opposed the reconvening of the so-called multilateral committees, effectively shutting-down this second-tier negotiating track. Egypt also impeded Israel's attempts to be accepted into a regional grouping at the UN, and has backed the attempt to label settlements as war crimes under international conventions. At the moment, too, Mubarak has rejected President Obama's call for Arab world good-faith concessions to Israel.
IN THE sixteen years since the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies was established - a center named in honor of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty - not a single top-level Egyptian academic or military strategist has deigned (or dared) to participate in a conference at the Center in Israel!
And of course, Mubarak has no plans to himself visit Israel. In fact, he has never made a state visit to Israel. (Paying his respects at Yitzhak Rabin's funeral doesn't count).
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's sleepy summer-time visit to Washington is purposefully timed. He wants to avoid Congressional scrutiny of his government's human rights abuses, the anti-Semitic Egyptian publishing industry, Egypt's massive military build-up, and its very mixed record in regional peacemaking.
Mubarak visited Washington last in 2003 and in 1998 before that. Prior to the 1998 visit, at a time of great Egyptian-Israeli tensions, I wrote a in a column in The Jerusalem Post that Congress should "make Mubarak sweat," which infuriated the Egyptians. Al Ahram in Cairo even reprinted the full column in Arabic on their front page to demonstrate how much, in their words, "Israelis hate Egypt."
Egypt is, of course, too large and important a country to write-off as an enemy, and the Egypt-Israel peace, however cold, is a regional strategic cornerstone.
But for years Cairo has done everything possible to prevent the normalization of relations with Israel by any other Arab states. Mubarak has consistently opposed the reconvening of the so-called multilateral committees, effectively shutting-down this second-tier negotiating track. Egypt also impeded Israel's attempts to be accepted into a regional grouping at the UN, and has backed the attempt to label settlements as war crimes under international conventions. At the moment, too, Mubarak has rejected President Obama's call for Arab world good-faith concessions to Israel.
IN THE sixteen years since the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies was established - a center named in honor of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty - not a single top-level Egyptian academic or military strategist has deigned (or dared) to participate in a conference at the Center in Israel!
And of course, Mubarak has no plans to himself visit Israel. In fact, he has never made a state visit to Israel. (Paying his respects at Yitzhak Rabin's funeral doesn't count).
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's sleepy summer-time visit to Washington is purposefully timed. He wants to avoid Congressional scrutiny of his government's human rights abuses, the anti-Semitic Egyptian publishing industry, Egypt's massive military build-up, and its very mixed record in regional peacemaking.
Mubarak visited Washington last in 2003 and in 1998 before that. Prior to the 1998 visit, at a time of great Egyptian-Israeli tensions, I wrote a in a column in The Jerusalem Post that Congress should "make Mubarak sweat," which infuriated the Egyptians. Al Ahram in Cairo even reprinted the full column in Arabic on their front page to demonstrate how much, in their words, "Israelis hate Egypt."
Egypt is, of course, too large and important a country to write-off as an enemy, and the Egypt-Israel peace, however cold, is a regional strategic cornerstone.
But for years Cairo has done everything possible to prevent the normalization of relations with Israel by any other Arab states. Mubarak has consistently opposed the reconvening of the so-called multilateral committees, effectively shutting-down this second-tier negotiating track. Egypt also impeded Israel's attempts to be accepted into a regional grouping at the UN, and has backed the attempt to label settlements as war crimes under international conventions. At the moment, too, Mubarak has rejected President Obama's call for Arab world good-faith concessions to Israel.
IN THE sixteen years since the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies was established - a center named in honor of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty - not a single top-level Egyptian academic or military strategist has deigned (or dared) to participate in a conference at the Center in Israel!
And of course, Mubarak has no plans to himself visit Israel. In fact, he has never made a state visit to Israel. (Paying his respects at Yitzhak Rabin's funeral doesn't count).
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's sleepy summer-time visit to Washington is purposefully timed. He wants to avoid Congressional scrutiny of his government's human rights abuses, the anti-Semitic Egyptian publishing industry, Egypt's massive military build-up, and its very mixed record in regional peacemaking.
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