Egypt Suggests Putting Shebaa Under U.N. Supervision
Egypt has announced that it suggested to visiting Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert handing over the Shebaa Farms area to the United Nations pending a resolution between Lebanon, Syria and Israel on its legitimate ownership.
Beirut media on Wednesday quoted Egyptian presidency spokesman Suleiman Awad as saying that his country "has ideas to put the Shebaa Farms under U.N. supervision pending a decision over how it (the area) would be handed over to Lebanon or Syria."
"These ideas are supported by European countries," Awad stressed Tuesday following one-on-one talks between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Olmert in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The Shebaa Farms area is a strip of land at the junction of southeast Lebanon, southwest Syria and northern Israel.
The Jewish state seized the farms from Syria at the same time as it captured the adjoining Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war. Beirut claims the territory with the consent of Damascus.
Olmert”s spokesman Mark Regev, however, said ahead of the Israeli PM”s visit to Egypt that Israel "wants to enter into direct negotiations with Lebanon to reach peace."
"All issues, including the Shebaa Farms could be discussed, during the negotiations," Regev said, adding that the Lebanese are not willing to go into talks with Israel unless all "other tracks are solved."
He said this condition has materialized now that "Israel is negotiating with Syria and after peace has been reached with Egypt and Jordan."
"It”s time for negotiations on the Lebanese track," Regev stressed.
Meanwhile, Egypt told Israel that it will keep its Rafah crossing with Gaza closed until the fate of captured soldier Gilad Shalit is resolved, a senior Israeli official said.
"We received clear assurances that Rafah will not be opened as long as the question of Shalit is not solved," said the official, who was present at the talks between Mubarak and Olmert.
The two leaders discussed Shalit”s fate and the next stage of the Egyptian-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after months of bloodshed.