Leading Egyptian Presidential hopeful, Abouel Fotouh followed up his recent debate comments calling Israel an "enemy" with greater explanation of this enmity.
In an interview with a local television interview (you can
read the story here), Fotouh stated that he was always against the 1979 Camp David Peace Accords, and plans revision to the treaty (provided every 5 years according to the agreement) on the basis of national security, citing Israeli citizen's easy access to the Sinai peninsula while Egypt has limits on their military presence there.
He further called Israel a "racist state".
His strong talk was not simply reserved for Israel, but also made statements about the United States recent military actions. Fotouh refused to identify Osama Bin Laden as a "terrorist", but rather that this terminology was merely a US ploy against "Muslim interests"; however, he labeled the US assassination of Bin Laden an "act of state terrorism."
These recent statements seem a bit contradictory for a "liberal" candidate, but Fotouh has backing by both large numbers of fundamental and liberal Islamists. He also remains the leading candidate among polls heading into the May 23 and 24 election; Egyptian citizens worldwide have already begun casting their absentee ballots. If there is not a clear majority winner (51%) in May, then the process moves to a runoff election in June with the top two candidates. Amr Mousa, the second highest leading candidate in the polls, also states that in the interest of Egypt's national security, the 1979 peace agreement with Israel needs to be revisited, but there has not been a clearer statement from him about what is needed from his perspective.
In other news--it's raining in Cairo this morning! :)
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