Radicals Attack Egyptian Minister

Radical Muslims attacked Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher during Monday evening prayers at the Al Aqsa mosque, one of Islam’s most revered sites and a flashpoint for Arab-Israeli violence in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City.

Enraged men lunged at Maher, pelted him with shoes in a traditional insult and screamed, “Traitor!” “Collaborator!” and “God is great!” Television footage showed Maher caught in a crush of bodyguards at the center of a furious mob. The official, who is 68 and has undergone two heart bypass operations, was hospitalized briefly after he complained of a choking sensation and chest pressure.

Days after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatened to draw a boundary of his choosing through the Palestinian territories, Maher was meeting with top Israeli officials in hopes of coaxing stalled peace talks back to life. Egypt has been working furiously -- but unsuccessfully -- to broker a cease-fire among Palestinian militants.

Maher’s visit was the first by a top Egyptian minister since Cairo withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv in the early months of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising. During a trip designed to patch up the battered relationship between the two countries, Maher pleased Israel by choosing not to meet with Palestinian leaders or visit Ramallah, where President Yasser Arafat is headquartered.

“Everything was there in terms of atmosphere and trying to thaw the frozen relations,” said Raanan Gissin, an advisor to Sharon. “Because of that he was called a traitor. Because of that he was attacked.”

In a meeting earlier Monday, Sharon told Maher that Israel had no intention of signing a cease-fire agreement with the armed Palestinian factions. But Sharon did offer a small concession: If the Palestinians manage to set a cease-fire and stick to it, Israel will call off its military strikes against them, he said.

“If there is quiet, we’ll respond with quiet,” Gissin said.

Palestinian officials decried the attack on Maher. Prime Minister Ahmed Korei told the Arab satellite TV channel Al Jazeera that he was furious.

Palestinian lawmaker and academic Ziad abu Amr said, “It represents nobody. It’s embarrassing.”

But other Palestinians quietly suggested that Egypt’s policies have stoked discontent.

“Egypt is seen as more interested in the power of its own country than in the interests of the Palestinians,” said a Palestinian official who asked not to be named. “For Egypt, it’s ‘How do we quiet this down? How can we manage the crisis?’ -- rather than resolve the crisis.”

The relationship between Egypt and Israel has been fragile even at its best moments. Two years after the neighboring nations signed an uneasy peace accord in 1979, Islamic militants gunned down Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

Their ties have deteriorated throughout the intifada. The years of fighting have caught the Egyptian regime between two conflicting forces: popular sympathies for the Palestinian cause and international pressure to cooperate with Israel.

As an indication of goodwill, Maher refrained from complaining to Israeli officials about two key sources of Arab anger, Gissin said. The Egyptian didn’t mention the barrier that Israel is erecting in the West Bank, dividing some Palestinians from their land in the name of protecting Israelis from suicide bombers.

Nor did Maher press Sharon on Israel’s nuclear program, which many Arabs have been discussing with renewed vigor since Libya decided to do away with its unconventional weapons program last week.

Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman has spent months trying to patch up conflicts among the Palestinians. He has repeatedly attempted to convince radical factions to abandon violence in favor of a cease-fire and has surfaced in Ramallah as a mediator in feuds between Arafat and former Premier Mahmoud Abbas.

But Egypt’s efforts have repeatedly failed. Abbas quit his job in disgust, and a lasting cease-fire remains elusive. A recent summit of Palestinian militants in Cairo dissolved into bickering. The factions returned to the Palestinian territories without an agreement.

Violence was still simmering late Monday, when a Gaza Strip shootout left two Israeli soldiers and a Palestinian gunman dead. Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility.

At least two Palestinians were killed hours later, Palestinian sources said, when Israeli soldiers raided the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Israeli sources said troops were hunting for tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt. The battle continued this morning.