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Israeli-Egyptian ambassadorial meeting in Berlin

Updated: 31/Jan/2006 17:33

Egypt's ambassador to Germany Muhammed al-Orabi and his wife Amal

Photo: DasCoprs

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In a groundbreaking meeting, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, joined his Egyptian counterpart on the same Berlin stage to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

Shimon Stein and Muhammed al-Orabi spoke to more than 300 people at Berlin’s Ritz Carlton Hotel last month in an event organized by the German office of Karen Hayesod, also known as the United Israel Appeal.

The tension in the region had subsided considerably since initiative was first proposed a year earlier by Larry Gelerman, chairman of the Berlin chapter of the German-Israeli Economic Forum.

Gelerman had approached al-Orabi to promote what he described as his “crazy idea of organizing a business cum peace summit between Israeli, Egyptian and Jordanian companies”, in Berlin.

“We have to do something crazy like this… Anything is better than the situation we now see in the Middle East,” Gelerman told EJP last week.
Al-Orabi found Gelerman’s idea “dearly needed”. But he added: “In light of the explosive situation between the Palestinians and Israelis, it is certainly not the right time to do it”.

Differing views

The meeting, however, did not show a warming of Israeli or Egyptian points of view.

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Stein bewailed anti-Semitism, “which is wide-spread throughout the Arab world”. He also spoke of the distress amongst European leaders that countries such as Egypt “have not broken off direct links to Teheran”.

For his part, Al-Orabi did not condemn Holocaust revisionism and anti-Israeli sentiments that such as those that have recently been expounded by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahamdinejad, but simply opted for the diplomatic answer: “these views do not correspond to Egyptian policy”.

Increase the peace?

We have to do something crazy like this… Anything is better than the situation we now see in the Middle East

Larry Gelerman, German-Israeli Economic Forum

Some observers suggested that the meeting between the two ambassadors did not increase the chances of peaceful relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours. However, that was not the real purpose of the conference and the event at least illutstrated a willingness to share the same platform.

Commentators have argued that Al-Oraby must tread carefully in his dealings with Israel, even at an ambassadorial level. Egypt has precariously juggled its relationship with the Jewish state since a peace agreement was signed between the two countries in 1979, in order to maintain its credibility with other Muslim nations.

Despite this, Al-Oraby and his wife, Amal Ahmed Farid have a weak spot for Israel. Al-Orabi was Egypt’s deputy ambassador to Israel from 1994-1998 – at the height of the peace process.

“We really cherished the time we spent in Tel-Aviv,” Amal Ahmed Farid told a group of listeners at a recent Muslim Women’s League meeting, in Berlin.