U.S. seeks to calm Middle East tensions
In the wake of last Friday’s ransacking by protesters of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, U.S. officials have engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity intended to calm tensions in the Middle East.
President Barack Obama called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke with Egyptian Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke twice with Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamad Kamil Amir to express her concerns, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
“Her message was we need to get the situation under control; you have obligations under the Vienna Convention; please do what you can to protect Israeli citizens, and this is dangerous not only in your relationship with Israel but in terms of implications for the region as a whole,” Nuland said.
U.S. officials are concerned that tensions between Israel and Egypt could heighten anti-Israeli sentiment in the region in advance of next week’s opening of the U.N. General Assembly. That is where the Palestinians are expected to launch a bid for statehood, a move Nuland said last week the United States would veto.
Nuland said Monday that officials were gratified by weekend statements from senior Israeli and Egyptian officials “underscoring the importance of the relationship with each other, calling on all sides for calm, and bringing the situation back under control.”