CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in a newspaper interview on Monday that Israel must halt settlement construction on occupied land before Arab countries take steps to normalize ties.
He made his comments to an Egyptian state-owned newspaper coinciding with his first visit in five years to the United States, where he will meet President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
Obama s administration is pressuring Israel to stop Jewish settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, while demanding that Arab states take steps to normalize ties with Israel.
I explained to President Obama in Cairo that the Arab initiative offers the recognition of Israel and normalization of ties with it after, and not before, a just and lasting peace is achieved, Mubarak told Al-Ahram newspaper, referring to his meeting with Obama in Cairo in June.
The Arab League in 2002 endorsed a peace plan calling for Arab states to recognize Israel in a exchange for Israel s withdrawal from the land it occupied in war in 1967 and an equitable resolution for Palestinian refugees.
Only two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan, have signed peace treaties with the Jewish state while some other Arab countries have trade relations.
Some Arab countries that exchanged representatives and trade offices might think of reopening these offices if Israel committed itself to stop settlement expansion and to resume final status peace negotiations, Mubarak said.
US peace envoy George Mitchell, on a visit to the region last month, called on Arab states to take meaningful steps to normalize relations with Israel ahead of a peace deal.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal, whose country proposed the 2002 Arab initiative, earlier this month ruled out a step by step diplomatic approach, saying Israel must first fulfill its obligations. -AFP
