Mubarak wants an Arafat - Sharon summit in Egypt
Egypt-Regional, Politics, 3/5/2002

In an interview with CNN, Mubarak described the Middle East as very complicated and affecting the whole region as well as US and regional countries interests.

The situation in the Middle East has never been like that since the start of the Mideast peace process with late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1977, the Egyptian President said.

"Bringing both sides back to the negotiating table will be the only ray of hope for the peoples to start calming down. The Palestinians should take back their occupied land just to help the peoples slow down tension and help change the atmosphere in the whole Arab region and whole world as well", Mubarak told CNN.

Asked whether the return to the 1967 borders is not possible, Mubarak said, "Although the UN resolutions stipulate that, the two sides have to sit to the table and negotiate.

"This is what happened with Menachem Begin at the beginning. I attended the first meeting with President Sadat as Vice-President and the first proposal was offering 50 per cent of Sinai."

"President Sadat was very nervous but it ended that we got back all our lands", he said.

Mubarak said the situation with the Palestinians maybe different but the Syrians "will not leave even an inch of their land".

The Egyptian president highlighted the continued Palestinian-Israeli confidence crisis.

Since former Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu had signed the WYE-River agreement he implemented only 20 per cent of it and dropped the rest of the agreement commitments, said Mubarak.

He told CNN that the same happened with former Israeli Premier Ehud Barak who signed the Sharm E1 Sheikh agreement then implemented one third of it and started the suspension of the other parts and things went on till Ariel Sharon came to power. When Sharon came, he rejected previously-signed agreements and wanted to start from scratch and it was clear that he had his own plan in mind, said Mubarak.

On war against terrorism and the reports that the United States would attack Iraq, the President said he does not want to enter in details about that issue, but consultations should be made with the friends in the region. "We urged the Iraqis to comply with the Security Council resolutions to avoid any escalation of the situation and I think there is no need to open many fronts at one time and we must be cautious, Mubarak told CNN.

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak told CNN that he considers proposing a summit in Egypt, between the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, disclosing that Sharon did propose to Mubarak to have a meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

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