CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak accepted an invitation to attend the start of direct peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Washington next month, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
"President Mubarak welcomed the Quartet’s statement and confirmed his acceptance of President Barack Obama’s invitation to participate in the launch of direct talks" at the beginning of September, the official Al-Ahram reported.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invited Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II to the launch of the first direct talks between Palestinian and Israeli leaders since December 2008.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had refused face-to-face talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but accepted the invitation after key powers reiterated a call for an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands it conquered in 1967.
The Quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations said the negotiations for a Palestinian state alongside Israel could be completed in a year.
