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Following are excerpts from an interview with Judge Hisham Al-Bastawisi, an Egyptian presidential candidate, which aired on Al-Hayat TV on March 29, 2011:
Interviewer: What is your position regarding the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty?
Hisham Al-Bastawisi: Egypt must honor all the international treaties it has signed. Egypt has never violated any agreement, and if it does, it will lose its credibility worldwide, and no one will sign any treaty with it anymore. Therefore, the annulment of a treaty signed by Egypt is out of the question. But if a certain agreement, like the Camp David Accord, involves infringement upon the rights of Egypt or the Egyptians, Egypt has the right to ask to renegotiate it. This would be to the benefit of peace in the region and the world.
Interviewer: What infringement are you referring to? Do you think the treaty involves infringement?
Hisham Al-Bastawisi: Yes, definitely. The terms pertaining to the Sinai Peninsula infringe upon Egypt's right to it. We must renegotiate these terms in order to…
Interviewer: By this you mean that we should sit down to negotiations table again?
Hisham Al-Bastawisi: Of course. Everything must be done by negotiations. What else can we do? This is a peaceful path that you can follow. We can negotiate from a position of power. We have many means, and if we employ them, we could change these agreements, and this would be to the benefit of all parties.
Interviewer: So you believe certain articles in the Camp David Accord should be renegotiated?
Hisham Al-Bastawisi: Exactly.
Interviewer: There should be direct negotiations… The most important article is the military presence in Sinai…
Hisham Al-Bastawisi: This is one of many issues. The Palestinian cause should also be a part of these negotiations, because without a just solution to the Palestinian cause, the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel will also be threatened.
Interviewer: You link between the progress on the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and the continuation of the [Egyptian-Israeli] treaty.
Hisham Al-Bastawisi: This is because all the Arab countries should have joint security and interests. The Arab countries should all complaint one another. You cannot ignore the Palestinian cause and resolve your own problem with Israel. Your security and peace would continue to be threatened. Egypt cannot simply watch from the sidelines while the Palestinian people is starved and annihilated under siege. All the problems must be resolved.
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