Mubarak, Powell Hold Phone Talks After Cancelling Planned Meeting

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 18, 2002

Mubarak, Powell Hold Phone Talks After Cancelling Planned Meeting

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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday had phone talks with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on the worsening situation in the occupied Palestinianlands after a scheduled face-to-face meeting was cancelled.

The phone talk dealt with the deteriorating conditions in the occupied territories and stressed the importance of an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian towns, the official MENA news agency said.

Powell was scheduled to meet Mubarak during his brief stopover in Cairo after he held talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for a second time in the besieged West Bank city of Ramallah earlier in the day.

But the meeting was cancelled after Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo described the Arafat-Powell meeting as "disastrous."

"The Palestinian demands for a complete and immediate Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank towns and refugee camps werenot met," Rabbo said.

But MENA did not say the reason of the cancellation of the planned meeting.

This was Powell's second visit to Egypt during his Mideast trip,which has taken him to Morocco, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian self-rule areas, Syria and Lebanon.

Powell left here for home Wednesday evening after a 10-day mission in the region which has failed to pressure Israel to withdraw troops immediately from the occupied Palestinian lands andbroker a ceasefire between the Israelis and Palestinians.

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