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Israeli FM to Visit Egypt for Talks on Mideast Situation
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres will visit Cairo on Sunday to discuss with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Maher the situation in the Palestinian territories, Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency reported on Wednesday.
The two foreign ministers are also expected to discuss efforts aimed at encouraging the Palestinians and Israelis to work for easing tensions and restarting peace negotiations, the news agency said.
Maher will expound Egypt's position that Israeli aggressions on unarmed Palestinians are dangerous acts, which would delay chances for restoring calm to the region, it quoted Egyptian officials as saying.
He will also urge Israel to halt settlement expansion and demolition of Palestinian houses in the occupied territories, the officials added.
Israeli army's bulldozers on Tuesday demolished 26 Palestinian houses in the Palestinian-controlled southern Gaza Strip, leaving dozens homeless. The Israelis also destroyed 14 homes on Monday in an overcrowded refugee camp in East Jerusalem, which they said had been built illegally.
It will be Peres' first visit to Egypt after he held talks in April with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the Mideast situation and an Egyptian-Jordanian peace plan calling for an end to the Palestinian-Israeli clashes and efforts aimed at resuming peace negotiations.
Egypt, the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, has been playing a key mediating role in the Palestinian- Israeli peace talks.
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