Al-Sharaa - Moussa communications; Peace requires a Palestinian State

Foreign Minister Amr Moussa received a phone call from his Syrian counterpart Farouk al-Sharaa dealing with the latest developments of the stalled peace process.

"Egypt will maintain contacts with Syria as well as with other Arab countries in order to handle the ongoing critical situation facing the region and the breakdown of the peace march on the different tracks," He told reporters. Moussa did not rule out holding Arab meetings in the near future.

"Israel's skirting peace commitments and signed accords will seriously affect the peace process whether on bilateral or multilateral levels," Moussa warned. "Israel should reconsider immediately all its policies," he added.

"The Palestinian issue should not be ignored as peace can never be achieved without proclaiming Palestinian state," Moussa said when asked on the Palestinians' fears because of Israel's continued evasion of all dates, the last of which was February 13.

"Egypt, as well as the Arab side, will never accept any attempt that aims at ignoring the Palestinian cause," according to Moussa. Moussa said that the lack of confidence in Israel would make Arabs believe that there is something wrong in the peace process.

Denouncing Israel's procrastination, Moussa said that no one would believe Israeli pledges or commitments. "Foot-dragging accompanies another foot-dragging," according to Moussa.

On the American stance, Moussa said that the US has a great responsibility to stand up to the continued deterioration of the peace process on all tracks, which had never happened even under Netanyahu.

"Arab coordination is constantly going on regarding all issues," he added. On hosting the regional cooperation conference for the Middle East and North Africa by Cairo, Moussa said that time is not ripe now for that.