Mubarak discusses with Solana deteriorating conditions in ME

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak receives today Javier Solana, the European Union Foreign Policy and Security Chief, who cut short his visit to Israel and Palestinian territories to visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt to discuss the deteriorating conditions in the Palestinian territories.

The European official talks in Egypt are expected to deal with the peace initiative proposed by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz for settling the Middle East crisis.

A Spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister described the initiative as a new development.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said that Solana carried a message from him to the Saudi Crown Prince expressing Israel's readiness to probe what he said "this positive initiative".

The American administration described the Saudi initiative as important and President George W. Bush hailed it, according to the White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav Wednesday described the initiative as a "dramatic and important step".

In an interview with Israel Radio, Katsav said that this initiative should not be dealt with as a proposal offered in an interview.

"This initiative should not be rejected for the possibility that there might be Saudi "bad intentions" behind it," he added.

Katsav said that his call on the Saudi officials to come to Israel was not an attempt by him to throw the ball in their court but it was an official invitation.

The initiative, supported by the European for pulling Israeli forces out of the Arab lands in return for an Arab recognition of Israel.