SHARM EL-SHEIKH: President Hosni Mubarak said on Tuesday that he was ready to go to Israel if the visit would solve the Palestinian problem.
“If my visit to Israel will solve the Palestinian problem, I’m ready to go, Mubarak said in response to a journalist’s question following talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Sharm El-Sheikh.
Mubarak has never repeated his predecessor Anwar Sadat’s historic offical visit to Jerusalem 30 years ago in 1977, the first trip to Israel by an Arab leader.
He did however attend the funeral of slain Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin during an unofficial visit in 1995.
On his part Olmert said that he hoped to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians next year.
“The negotiations will not be simple. There will be differences, crises and arguments. But if we act with caution, there is a chance that we can reach a deal, said Olmert.
Olmert held last-minute talks with the Egyptian leader ahead of a major Middle East peace meeting expected to take place in the US city of Annapolis on Nov. 27. “In Annapolis, we want to launch negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on fundamental questions to reach a two-state solution, he said.
“We hope that the negotiations in Annapolis will drive us to a just, equitable and balanced solution between us and the Palestinians, a solution of two states for two peoples.
“The Annapolis meeting is not supposed to be a meeting for negotiations. The negotiations will begin after the meeting. The negotiations will concern the most fundamental questions (of the conflict). We will not evade any of them.
But he warned that implementation of any future peace deal would have to wait until the Palestinian Authority retook control of the Gaza Strip from Hamas.
“There will be no implementation of the treaty before the roadmap commitments are all implemented, Olmert said.
“The commitments also apply to the Gaza Strip. [For the Palestinians] Gaza must be part of the Palestinian state and then, naturally, the Palestinians must fight terrorism, and that includes the Gaza Strip.
Hamas fighters ousted forces loyal to president Mahmoud Abbas’s secular Fatah party in mid-June, splitting the Palestinians into two separate entities.
Olmert also said that Israel considered the Arab peace initiative “as very important in the framework of efforts to reach a peace deal.
“I have no doubt that in the coming year, this initiative will contribute much to the process between us and the Palestinians.
He was referring to an Arab League blueprint originally launched in 2002 and revived at a summit in Saudi Arabia in March.
Olmert also warned that to reach a peace deal, “the Palestinian Authority must still exert much effort to battle terrorism and that “terrorists are trying to compromise the Annapolis meeting.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have been trying in vain for weeks to bridge yawning gaps and agree on a joint statement ahead of Annapolis that will serve as basis for the final status negotiations expected to kick off afterwards.
In talks that lasted more than two hours on Monday, Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas failed to reach a breakthrough in the deadlock over the document.
