Mideast countdown

All the Middle East nations are expectant, as they begin the countdown ending July 1, a day seen as the acid test for the Israeli government to redeploy its armed forces on the West Bank in accordance with peace developments in the region.

If the Israelis live up to expectations, and the Palestinians are helped to hold the proposed elections, a key step in further consolidating peace in the Middle East region will be achieved.

Evidently, the progress on the Syrian-Israeli track will favorably reverberate to the negotiating table being set for the Israeli government and neighboring Lebanon.

It seems that the region's nations are not alone in starting this countdown: European countries, warming up to throw their full weight behind ambitious economic policies drawn up for the pro-peace Middle East, also join the expectant countdown.

It will be curious to see when the region's nations will vigorously challenge the European countries to present all-out economic plans designed to help the economies of the Middle East thrive, to compensate the people for the many years spent in agony, fear and ailing economies.

All these ambitious aspirations can well explain the feverish efforts made by the Egyptian leadership and diplomacy to accelerate the progress of peace in this region.

Egypt is eager to achieve a comprehensive and consolidated peace among its neighbors so that it can move forward and join the European and Asian countries willing to hammer out economic partnerships.

-- The Egyptian Gazette, Cairo