Fathi Sorour, speaker of the People’s Assembly, addressed an AmCham luncheon held at the Semiramis InterContinental Hotel on March 31. Sorour spoke about the trip to Washington, DC of an Egyptian parliamentary delegation in early March, which he headed.

It was the first official trip to the US by a parliamentary delegation in a decade. Sorour explained that it was important for the US to recognize the role of Egypt’s parliament in decision-making, and said he hoped the visit would be the start of regular exchanges between Egypt’s parliament and the US Congress.

The Egyptian delegation to Washington included members of the ruling National Democratic Party, and opposition members of the Wafd Party and Tagammu Party. The delegation met with Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and congressional leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James Clyburn, and members of the House and Senate foreign relations committees. Delegates also met various Arab and Jewish organizations. Sorour, meanwhile, addressed audiences at George Washington University, the National Press Club and the American Society of International Law.

The main issues discussed during the mission related to regional politics, in particular the precarious situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Turning to the topic to Hamas, Sorour said the group has achieved political power because Fatah’s leader, Mohamed Abbas, was discredited among Palestinians for failing to achieve his stated goal of Palestinian statehood.

Relating what he told Congressmen, Sorour said: “If [Abbas] had succeeded to have Palestine as an independent state, no other political force could have had success in national elections, but the Palestinians looked to him, and looked to Fatah as a failure, and so they [voted for Hamas]. And if you are annoyed by Hamas, please reinforce [Abbas] and help him in having an independent state living together with Israel.”

Sorour asserted that a two-state solution is the key to improving the region’s future. “If we’d like peace and security in the region, then Palestine must be an independent state. That was the first message that our delegation gave to the Congressmen and the administration,” he said.

The second point his delegation stressed, Sorour said, was that Egypt does not assist the smuggling of goods and weapons through tunnels into Gaza. “We are against the smuggling of arms because [this] is against the national interest for Egypt,” he noted. He explained that conflict in Gaza often spreads beyond its borders into Egypt, such as the recent border breach that allowed tens of thousands of Palestinians to travel freely into Sinai.

He argued that Egypt’s ability to protect the integrity of its northern border is constrained by the 1978 Camp David Accords, which limit the extent of Egypt’s troop build-up in Sinai. “We don’t have sufficient officers [on the Gaza border] because of the Camp David agreement,” Sorour said he told the US Congress. “Let us be there to protect the border, and [supply] us sophisticated technological instruments to discover the tunnels.”

He said the delegation also emphasized the role that Egypt plays vis-à-vis supporting US interests in the region. “If there is no stability in Egypt, then there is no stability in the region,” he asserted. “If Egypt fails as a civilized country, that will [spread] to all of the countries in the Arab region, and that will indirectly affect American interests and the peace and security of the entire region.”

The last point, democratization, was raised during the mission but the two sides did not engage in any heated debates, Sorour said. “We convinced the Americans – I hope – that our end [goal] is to have democracy and human rights respected fully.” Sorour concluded by expressing his optimism about the mission, and his desire to continue dialogue between the two sides.

Following his presentation, Sorour answered questions from audience members covering topics such as human rights, the American media, the Egyptian cabinet and upcoming legislation