JERUSALEM: Israeli President Shimon Peres was heading to Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak on the troubled Middle East peace talks, his spokeswoman said.
Mr Peres is due to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak one on one during the late morning in Cairo, Peres spokeswoman Ayelet Frish said. He will return to Israel in the afternoon.
The two leaders will discuss the latest developments in the Middle East as well as means to advance the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, she said.
The two octogenarians are due to make a statement to the press after their meeting and will then have lunch with Egyptian government and security officials, she said.
Peres, 86, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to discuss topics that he will bring up during his meeting with Mubarak, 81.
Israeli media said that the discussions were due to touch on German-mediated talks for a prisoner exchange between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip.
The deal would see Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Gaza militants in June 2006, released in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Israeli media also said that Peres could bring up the possibility of creating a Palestinian state with provisional borders while the two sides carry out their negotiations. Such a proposal has in the past been rejected by the Palestinians.
The administration of US President Barack Obama has been struggling in vain for months for the two sides to resume peace negotiations that were suspended during the Gaza war at the turn of the year, amid deep disagreement on the thorny issue of Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land. -AFP
