JERUSALEM: Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met Israeli leaders on Thursday and said the prospect of renewed Middle East peace talks with the Palestinians must not be allowed to slip away.
"We are very concerned about moving the peace process forward," he told reporters at the start of a meeting with President Shimon Peres in Tel Aviv. "We still think that we have a golden opportunity, we should not lose it."
Earlier Suleiman met Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also in Tel Aviv.
"At the meeting the parties examined ways to advance Israeli-Palestinian negotiations with the aim of bringing about their renewal and reaching a peace agreement," Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Peace talks have been frozen since the end of September following the end of a temporary ban on Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.
Last week, Suleiman visited the West Bank with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Egyptians reiterated Arab support for the Palestinian leader’s demand that Israel reimpose the settlements construction moratorium before talks can resume.
Direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians began on September 2 but lasted for barely three weeks before shuddering to a halt over the settlements issue.
Last month, Arab foreign ministers said they would give Washington until early November to find a way out of the impasse, but there has been little sign of progress.
The ministers are expected to meet in the coming weeks to decide on a response to the stalled talks.
The Palestinians view the presence of 500,000 Israelis in more than 120 settlements scattered across the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, as a major obstacle to the establishment of their promised state.
Israel has so far refused to renew the moratorium, insisting that the settlements issue be addressed as part of a final peace deal.
