Egyptian candidate says Camp David 'dead'

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CAIRO, May 1 (UPI) -- Egyptian presidential candidate Amr Moussa declared the Camp David agreement between Israel and Egypt is "dead and buried."

"The Camp David Accords is a historical document whose place is on the shelves of history, as its articles talk about the fact that the aim of the agreement is to establish an independent Palestinian state. … There is an agreement between Israel and Egypt we will honor as long as Israel honors it. … The Jewish document that defines relations between Israel and the Arabs is an Arab initiative from 2002 whose advancement should be bilateral, step for step, progress by progress, " Yedioth Ahronoth on Tuesday quoted Moussa, the former foreign minister and secretary-general of the Arab League, as saying.

Moussa differentiates between the Camp David Accords and the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, but the Egyptian public fails to make the same differentiation and views the Camp David Accords as a whole, The Jerusalem Post said.

Presidential campaigning continues until May 21, and voters will go to the polls on May 23-24 to elect the next president, with runoffs scheduled to occur in June, the Post said. The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is expected to hand over power to an elected government by July 1, the Post said.

The Camp David Accords were signed on September 1978 at the White House between then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after 13 days of secret negotiations at Camp David. The accords also included A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel signed by the two countries in 1979.