US Briefs Egypt on Washington Peace TalksUS Ambassador to Cairo Daniel Kurtzer here on Sunday met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa to brief the Egyptian side on the outcome of the US- sponsored negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis in Washington.Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak also met the U.S. envoy earlier in the day, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency reported. Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Moussa, Kurtzer said that his mission was to inform Mubarak and Moussa of the details of the five-day Washington talks. He briefed the Egyptian leaders on the proposals put forward to the Israeli and Palestinian teams by U.S. President Bill Clinton at the end of the talks Saturday. Palestinian and Israeli negotiators returned home and reported to their leaders the outcome of the Washington talks and Clinton's proposals. They will respond to Clinton by Wednesday on whether their leaders accept the U.S.-proposed compromises on East Jerusalem, the refugees' right of return and the future borders of a Palestinian state. Kurtzer said that it is "premature" to issue a judgement on the results of the Washington talks, which some reports termed "a failure," adding that Clinton is waiting for the responses from Palestinian and Israeli leaderships. The senior U.S. diplomat said that his meetings with Egyptian leaders came within the context of continued consultations and contacts between the two sides in the Middle East peace process. Egypt, the first Arab country which has signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, has been playing a key mediating role in the Middle East peace process. |
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