Amr Moussa: Camp David accords ‘dead,’ but Egypt still honors peace with Israel

Leading Egyptian presidential candidate Amr Moussa said Sunday that the Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel are dead.

“The Camp David Accord is a historical document whose place is on the memory shelf, since its articles talk about the fact that the aim of the agreement is to establish an independent Palestinian state,” Moussa said at a rally Sunday in the Upper Egyptian city of Sohag. “This accord is dead and buried.”

He went on to speak of the Arab League peace proposal of 2002 as “an agreement between Israel and Egypt that we will honor as long as Israel honors it.” Its advancement “should be bilateral: step for step, progress for progress,” he said.

That Saudi-sponsored plan, which has undergone various formulations, proposed Arab peace and recognition of Israel in exchange for Israeli withdrawal to 1967 lines, an agreed solution to the Palestinian refugee issue, and acceptance of the formation of an independent Palestinian state.

However, Moussa later clarified in a separate TV interview that Egypt will still honor its overall peace treaty with Israel. He indicated that he had been differentiating between the specific Camp David accords, including articles on Palestinian statehood which he blamed Israel for failing to honor, and the overall Israel-Egypt peace treaty

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According to a poll conducted by the Al-Ahram Center for Political Studies on Monday, Moussa would receive 41.1% of the popular vote in the presidential elections in late May, with his closest rival among the 13-candidate field being former Muslim Brotherhood member and independent candidate Dr. Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, who scored 27.3%.