PARIS: President Hosni Mubarak said Monday he hoped "that all parties will seize this opportunity" in this week’s Mideast peace talks in the US.
Mubarak met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris before heading to Washington for the talks.
Sarkozy warned that success in this week’s Israeli-Palestinian peace talks depends on speedy progress and that delay would encourage extremism.
"Good discussions are discussions that are quick," Sarkozy told reporters ahead of talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas due to begin Thursday in Washington.
"Lengthy talks and lack of compromise make a bed for all types of extremism, everywhere in the world and particularly in this region," he said.
Mubarak, who was on his way to Washington to join an inaugural meeting between Netanyahu and Abbas, said he hoped "that all parties will seize this opportunity as we are at an important turning point."
Sarkozy said that "a hope exists, a fresh chance, it must be seized."
"No one can make peace alone in the Middle East," the French President said.
Thursday’s talks will launch the first direct negotiations between the two sides since the Palestinians broke off talks in December 2008, after Israel launched a devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip.
The two presidents said they want a planned November summit of leaders from around the Mediterranean to underpin a possible Middle East peace accord.
They also discussed the Union for the Mediterranean summit in Barcelona planned for November.
Sarkozy also said the group of 27 European Union nations and 16 southern Mediterranean and Middle East countries could encourage talks toward Mideast peace.
