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No Progress in Palestinian-Israeli Talks: Egyptian FM
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said on Sunday that the Palestinians and Israel have not made progress in the peace talks on the thorny final-status issues,especially Jerusalem.
There has been no changes that could be considered as progress in trying to find solutions to the question of sovereignty over Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, Moussa told reporters.
He returned to Cairo Saturday evening from New York and met with President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday to submit a report on the United Nations Millennium Summit and the U.N. General Assembly.
The Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations "were just marking time," Moussa said after the meeting. But he added that the two sides were in agreement that they should continue peace negotiations.
He disclosed that a United States envoy is due in the Middle East next week to try to push forward the peace talks. He did not name the envoy.
The minister said Egypt would hold contacts with the Palestinian, U.S. and Israeli sides in an effort to help advance the peace process.
The issue of the status of Jerusalem lies at the heart of the negotiations. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War, as the capital of their future independent state, while Israel declares the entire city its "eternal and undivided capital."
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