Mubarak urges Barak to use his election's peace mandate to move forward
Egypt-Israel, Politics, 7/29/1999

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met today with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who briefed Mubarak on the outcome of Barak's meeting with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Egyptian diplomatic sources said Barak attempted to obtain Egyptian support for his suggestion to postpone the complete implementation of the Wye River agreement, yet President Mubarak opposed the postponement, calling for quick implementation to remove the suspicions held by the Palestinians since former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office.

He added that Barak tried to convince Mubarak that delaying the transfer of some of the Palestinian territories will increase the possibility of reaching a permanent peaceful settlement, saying he needs to delay the Israeli withdrawal to prevent problems with Jewish settlers.

Meanwhile, speaking at a joint press conference after his meeting with Mubarak, Barak said that Israel is committed to implementing the Wye agreement, adding that the agreement would be altered "only if we agree upon it with chairman Arafat."

However, Barak called for patience in reaching peace. "I feel that we have to go forward, but I never pretended to have magic solutions to solve a conflict of 100 years in three weeks or three months," he said.

Mubarak said that final status negotiations could begin at any time after the signed agreements are implemented.

Previous Stories:
  Mubarak - Demirel summit at Alexandria   (7/26/1999)
  Moussa to confer with British FM   (7/21/1999)
  Egypt refuses US request to postpone Geneva conference   (7/13/1999)
  Report: Mubarak to convey verbal message to President al-Assad   (7/12/1999)

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