Palestinians hail Mubarak's efforts to push forward the peace process

Ahmed Abd El-Rahman, secretary general of the Palestinian Cabinet, said that the resumption of the current Palestinian - Israeli talks in Washington was due to the great efforts exerted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak such as convening the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting and that under his auspices Israel agreed on carrying out the last stage of redeployment. He said there were also US efforts to resume the negotiations concerning the third stage of redeployment and final status negotiations.

In statements today Abd El-Rahman said the final status issues are determined by Oslo. They are the settlement issue, Jerusalem, the refugees, the borders and water.

"We have clear concepts and resolutions of international legitimacy, and we ask Israel two things. The first is to commit to carrying out resolution 242 concerning withdrawing from the occupied Palestinian lands and [the second is] to stop settling," Abd El-Rahman said.