Israel urged to resume talks

Egypt: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak regretted on Sunday the stagnation of the Middle East peace process and asked Shimon Peres for greater commitment to resume talks with the Palestinians.

Mubarak welcomed Peres in Cairo and stated that they held an extensive and honest conversation, during which Peres expressed his unease due to lack of tangible progress in the regional peace process. The Israeli President’s visit had the alleged purpose of seeking Egypt’s support to persuade the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)’s Government to resume talks, which have been at a standstill since March, due to the Tel Aviv rightwing executive’s persistence.

The trip was one day after Mubarak made Israel responsible for undermining the peace process, due to its plans to Judaicize occupied territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and perform excavations around the Al-Aqsa mosque.

In a speech to the Parliament on Saturday, the Egyptian President accused Israel of “hindering the way to peace by means of its call to acknowledge the Jewish nature of its State.”

Mubarak also condemned the Israeli intention of “negotiating the temporary borders of the future Palestinian State and excluding Al-Quds (Jerusalem) from the negotiations’ final statutes.” He urged Tel Aviv to stop its practices in the West Bank, lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip and respond positively to the calls for peace and resume the negotiations “within a specific period and clear guarantees.” Cairo, Prensa Latina