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Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher Photo: AP "The peak of Arab lowness" was the headline of Gubran Tweini's editorial in Lebanon's most prestigious daily an-Nahar, referring to the attack on Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher by Palestinian worshippers at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Monday. "The attack on Ahmed Maher came as a free gift to the Arabs' adversaries, first and foremost Israel," noted Tweini, a leading Lebanese journalist. The Egyptian Foreign Minister, visiting Israel to boost peace efforts and improve Israeli-Egyptian relations, was heckled and assaulted by Palestinian extremists while praying at the mosque, the third holiest site for...

Peace. It is a grand concept and one that every person, organization and nation should strive to achieve. It can only be achieved through mutual respect and the respect for another’s beliefs, even if they are beliefs that one party cannot embrace. It is a simple concept partially based on the phrase, “live and let live.” While the phrase may be dripping in common sense it has consistently been one of the most difficult concepts to place into the realm of reality. Proof of this is in the Middle East situation and especially displayed in the caustic relations between Israel...

Dec. 23, 2003 Mubarak calls Sharon, thanks him for Maher visit By JPOST.COM STAFFEgyptian President Hosni Mubarak telephoned Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Tuesday night to thank him for the "welcome and the successful meetings" held Monday in Israel with his Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher. Officials in the prime minister's office said, "The two leaders discussed ways to advance the diplomatic process in the region. Mubarak emphasized his desire to advance Egyptian relations with Israel and expressed his interest in helping to advance the peace process." Meanwhile Farouk Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization's political department, arrived in Cairo on...

JERUSALEM - A high-ranking Palestinian delegation was set to head to Cairo on a fence-mending mission after the embarrassing assault on Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher in Jerusalem's mosque compound. An official statement said Tuesday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ordered Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) political bureau chief Faruq Qaddumi, foreign minister Nabil Shaath and his chief security advisor Jibril Rajub to lead the team, expected in the Egyptian capital in the next 48 hours. The group would "offer the apologies of the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinian people after the cowardly aggression", the Al-Quds daily reported. Palestinian official media...

JERUSALEM - For two countries that rarely speak to one another at senior levels, it was a rare display of warmth. "President Mubarak has sent me here on a mission of peace," declared Ahmed Maher, the Egyptian foreign minister. Standing by his side, his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom said, "Your visit is an opening for a warming of relations." Although Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, ties have traditionally been cool and they worsened three years ago after the eruption of the Palestinian uprising. Cairo had withdrawn its ambassador to protest Israel's hard-hitting...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel Police spokesman Gil Kleiman reports that Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher was visiting a mosque on the Temple Mount when shouts of “Ala Akbar” (God is Great) where heard and Islamic worshipers began hurling shoes at him. Jerusalem EMS Chief Yoni Yagudofsky reports the foreign minister is being treated by an advanced life support medical team and was complaining of “shortness of breath”. At this point, it remains uncertain if he will require transport to Hadassah Hospital according to MDA and Israel Police reports

JERUSALEM - Muslim demonstrators attacked visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher on Monday as he tried to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, in the Old City of Jerusalem, witnesses said. Witnesses said Maher was not injured, but was taken to the hospital after complaining of not feeling well...

Israeli Radio reporting Egyptian FM stoned by Palestinians when he visited Al-Aqsa mosque. Israeli police storm in, save him, and rush him to the hospital. He is reported to be in good condition.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher has collapsed after being assaulted by a crowd of Palestinians as he entered the al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City, witnesses say. Witnesses earlier said it appeared Maher had been physically beaten but later said he was accosted and jostled and possibly struck one or two times, causing him to fall to the ground. "A group of Palestinian extremists started shouting at Maher and calling him a traitor and collaborator and then they were trying to reach him but guards (nearby) prevented them," a mosque guard who witnessed the incident old...

Oct. 29, 2003 Egypt FM: Israel is walking road to disaster By ASSOCIATED PRESS Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Tuesday Israel was choosing the "road to disasters" over the route to peace by continuing construction of fence Israel says is needed to keep out Palestinian attackers. The fence cuts into the West Bank and through Palestinian villages. Maher, speaking to reporters, also said the fence was being built to "capture more Palestinian territories" and would not contribute to the so-called "road map" peace plan endorsed by the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States. "Where is...

Filed at 6:59 p.m. ET CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Egypt's foreign minister said Saturday that he expected Iraq to accept the U.N. resolution to disarm but that Baghdad had not yet made a formal decision. ``I think we can expect a positive position by the Iraqis,'' Ahmed Maher told reporters after Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri explained Iraq's position to the foreign ministers of the 22-member Arab League. ``We heard the Iraqi point of view and the history of relations with the United Nations and the inspectors and their readiness to cooperate ... already expressed in September, but they haven't...

Filed at 4:47 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- The foreign ministers of three key Arab states are nearly jubilant over President Bush's latest stand on the Middle East: a firm commitment to a Palestinian state by mid-2005 and a determination to force Israel to quit the West Bank and Gaza. The ministers of Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met with Bush for only 30 minutes at the White House on Thursday. But they devoted hours afterward telling reporters how pleased they were with what they heard. Bush previously had backed establishment of a Palestinian state, the first president to take...

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher blamed Israel for Friday’s suicide bomb blast which rocked Jerusalem killing six Israelis and wounding 84 others. "I have said for several days that Israel's aggressive policy would not lead to its establishing security," Maher said upon his return to Cairo from the West Bank city of Ramallah and Amman. "Israel's policies brought out this violence. Israel assumes the first and the last point of responsibility because it sows despair inside many people," Maher said, who met in Ramallah with besieged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Despite his tough-sounding words, Maher stressed he condemned all attacks...