Moussa briefs Mubarak on Palestine visit

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa will present a report to President Hosni Mubarak on the results of his visit to Gaza and his meeting with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, as well as on the results of the Egyptian - Palestinian high joint committee.

Moussa returned to Cairo yesterday evening coming from Gaza after a two-day visit in which he headed the Egyptian delegation at the meetings of the joint committee with the Palestinians, where a number of agreements for enhancing trade cooperation between Egypt and the Palestinian government were ratified.

President Arafat will arrive in Cairo on Saturday to hold important talks with Egyptian President Mubarak before participating in a May 4 London meeting focused on enhancing the peace process under the sponsorship of British Prime Minister Tony Blair in which US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will meet with Arafat and Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu on the current proposed US initiative to rescue the Middle East peace process.

The Palestinian side has already given its approval to the terms of initiative.

In a joint press conference he held on Wednesday in Gaza Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Moussa strongly criticized statements made by Netanyahu upon the Israeli leader's arrival in Cairo on Tuesday. Netanyahu stressed readiness to defy the world as a whole against preserving what he described as the "security of the Israelis." Moussa described these statements is lacking a sense of responsibility and contradictory to the logic of the present time.

Meanwhile, Egyptian dailies quoted President Mubarak concerning the Israeli claims of protecting its security as saying Israel's security cannot be ensured while it occupies Arab lands. He also warned against the dangers of the deterioration of the peace process on the region's stability and security.