Egyptian officials to visit U.S. for peace talks

Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit are going to Washington on Tuesday in an effort to restore direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Egypt's foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the Egyptian delegation would discuss ways to push the blocked path in the peace talks, Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Sunday.

Peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders broke at the end of September, when a 10-month partial Israeli freeze on settlement building expired. "Egypt believes that current talks freeze on the Middle East stability," the newspaper quoted Zaki as saying. Omar Suleiman met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Thursday. Suleiman and Ahmed Abul Gheit had met with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in late October to discuss the peace talks.

Source: Xinhua