April 30, 1992
Delivering a Labor Day speech in Cairo that is broadcast on Egyptian radio, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak discusses issues relating to the peace process. The speech coincides with the conclusion of the fifth round of bilateral peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian representatives in Washington.
The Egyptian president touches on the new world order created by the recent Gulf War and expresses an optimistic view that future disputes will be resolved peacefully. Mubarak praises Palestinian leadership for its will, determination and efforts in seeking peace with Israel, noting that Israel needs to “meet the Arabs half-way” in order to achieve coexistence.
Mubarak also comments on the egregious error made by Arab states in not accepting the 1978 Egyptian-Israeli Camp David Accords:
We wish we had proceeded according to the Camp David Accords long ago, although some parties are still saying: We are against Camp David. …Camp David told them to withdraw… military forces from the territories to specified security points. There were no settlements or anything else at the time. That was what the accords stipulated. [Note: Mubarak was wrong in stating that there were no settlements at that time.] Had the accords been implemented, settlements would not have been built. Today we regret not having implemented Camp David. Leader al-Gaddafi called it ‘stable David,’ but later he praised it. I wish they [the Arabs] had listened. They were not satisfied with al-Sadat and hence they say that there was no need for Camp David. We have regained our land and everything else and we are keeping up with and aiding the peace process. ….Today seventy-five percent of the occupied territories are covered with settlements. We had them in our hands without settlements. (Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Cairo Arab Republic of Egypt Radio Network, April 30, 1992; quoted from Foreign Broadcast Information Service, May 1, 1992, pp. 14-15.)
The photo shows Mubarak (left) with Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi in 1989.