Egypt News

Hosni Mubarak and Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel's hawkish premier heads to Cairo on Sunday for talks focused on a US-led push to revive the Middle East peace process amid charges that his settlement policies are harming the efforts

A a spokesman for the premier reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will "discuss the peace process and issues of mutual concern"

The Israeli leader goes to Cairo amid a US-led push to get the Israelis and Palestinians to revive their peace talks which were suspended in December, and will coincide with a visit to the region by US Middle East envoy George Mitchell.

The United States has asked both Israel and Arab states to adopt confidence-building measures to advance the process, notably a freeze on Jewish settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and a start to a normalisation of Arab relations with Israel.

Several Arab states have said they will not normalise ties before there is a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, or at least substantive negotiations.

Israel's decision this month to authorise the construction of 455 new homes for settlers in the West Bank has drawn sharp criticism from the international community, which considers Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territory to be illegal.

The White House said it regretted the decision and termed it "inconsistent" with its international commitments to the peace process, while the European Union expressed "serious concern."

Israel has said it would weigh demands for a freeze in settlement construction in the West Bank, but stressed it would be limited in time, would not include the newly authorised construction, nor the 2,500 homes currently under construction and would also exclude east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu insisted on Thursday that his government was ready to make concessions for peace, but stressed that Israelis were not "suckers."

The Palestinians want a complete halt to Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank before they will return to the negotiating table.

The peace talks had made little visible progress since they were relaunched in November 2007 after a seven year hiatus, and have been further hobbled by Palestinian divisions.

Egypt has been mediating between rival Palestinian factions Fatah, which holds sway in the West Bank, and Hamas, which rules the besieged Gaza Strip which the Israeli military attacked at the turn of the year

Cairo also has acted as a mediator in talks between Hamas and Israel on a possible deal to end the crippling Gaza blockade and free Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants more than three years ago.

Egypt has been Israel's main Arab ally since the two signed a peace treaty in 1979, but the neighbours remain at odds over the Middle East peace process.

EGYPT NEWS

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