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Arafat, Mubarak Discuss Negotiations with Israel
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat held talks on Wednesday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Alexandria on ways of pushing forward the peace negotiations with Israel.
Arafat arrived in the Egyptian Mediterranean port city overnight, the country's Middle East News Agency reported. His meeting with Mubarak came one day after US President Bill Clinton held brief talks with Mubarak at Cairo airport.
The talks between Mubarak and Clinton, who made a hours-long stopover in Cairo at the end of his three-day African tour, touched upon means of unblocking the path for Mideast peace, which was being locked in a stalemate.
Mubarak was expected to brief Arafat on his talks with Clinton, who said "time is short" for achieving peace. But Mubarak expressed optimism that a peace agreement is possible by next month, saying that he was "always hopeful."
Mubarak's top political advisor, Osama al-Baz, told reporters on Tuesday that the Egyptian leader explained to the US president what Cairo considered the Palestinians would and would not accept.
The Palestinians and Israelis have set September 13 as the deadline for a final peace agreement.
Clinton, in the last stage of his office, failed at a summit at Camp David last month to bridge gaps between Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak over the thorniest issues in the 52-year-old dispute, including borders, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlers.
The Palestinians insist that their sovereignty over Arab East Jerusalem not be questioned because the sector was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War and thus comes under United Nations resolution 242 demanding Israeli withdrawal.
The Palestinian stand was also backed Monday by the Jerusalem Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference during a meeting in Morocco, which said there should be no limitation on Palestinian sovereignty over the area.
Mubarak on Tuesday updated over telephone Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Aziz with the talks with Clinton and discussed the Mideast peace process with him, Egyptian newspapers reported on Wednesday.
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