BICOM

Speaking to reporters after President Hosni Mubarak’s speech last night, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said that he was ‘still optimistic’ regarding the prospects for peace in the Middle East, despite the ‘turbulence’ taking place in the region. Barak was careful not to appear to be backing any side in the internal conflict in Egypt, saying only that the ‘Egyptian people’ had to find their own way, in accordance with ‘their own constitution, norms and practices.’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said before Mubarak’s speech yesterday that he hoped that any government which ruled Egypt in the future would respect the peace treaty with Israel.

Jewish Agency Head and former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky is one of the few senior Israeli officials to openly welcome the signs of change in Egypt. Sharansky, a strong supporter of democratic reform throughout the Middle East, said yesterday that democratic change in Egypt should be welcomed. He said that if democratic countries were to support the protestors, rather than the governments, this would create the basis for a new pact between the Arab world and the free world. Sharansky recommended conditioning future US aid to Egypt on progress toward democratic reform.