Egypt Blasts Israeli Refusal to Have Peace Talks With Palestinians

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 27, 2002

Egypt Blasts Israeli Refusal to Have Peace Talks With Palestinians

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher on Tuesday blasted Israeli attempts to evade peace talks with the Palestinians.

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Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher on Tuesday blasted Israeli attempts to evade peace talks with the Palestinians.

"Israel is looking for excuses to keep on adopting anti- Palestine and anti-peace policies which harm the Israelis," Maher said at a joint press conference with visiting Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller.

Maher stressed that the international community should condemn such Israeli attempts to refuse serious negotiations, which would lead to a just settlement of the Palestine issue.

As for whether Israel seriously welcomes an initiative put forward by Saudi Arabia, Maher said that "if Israel accepts the idea demanding an Israeli pullout from all the Arab lands occupied in the 1967 Middle East War, this should be welcomed."

Moeller's two-day visit to Egypt is part of his Mideast tour, which will also take him to Jordan, the Palestinian self-rule areas and Israel.

For his part, Moeller termed the current Mideast situation as " tragic," underlining the importance of resuming peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis.

A political solution to the Mideast issue would be a key to security in the region, said Moeller, who also hailed the Saudi initiative as "encouraging."

Last week, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Aziz said in an interview with the New York Times that Arab states would normalize ties with Israel if it withdraws from all the Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

The Israeli side expressed support for the initiative, while the Palestinian side raised doubts about Israel's sincerity to deal with the idea.

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