Moussa heads to Washington, calls peace efforts a total failure

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa did not set aside the possibility of convening an Egyptian - Syrian - Saudi summit, replying to a question about convening this summit. Moussa said, "I can neither deny this matter nor say that they have agreed upon it."

At the same time Moussa stated that Egypt accepts the U.S. initiative and its terms concerning with the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank that calls for a 13 percent withdrawal by Israel.

Moussa said that he made a phone call to his Syrian counterpart Farouk al-Sharaa and a number of Arab ministers to inform them of the outcomes of the recent trilateral Cairo summit (Egypt- Jordan- Palestine), adding that the Egyptian- French initiative for an international conference on peace in the Middle East will be the main topic he discusses during his visit to Washington.

Foreign Minister Moussa is heading to today to Washington where he will hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that will cover the U.S. initiative for peace and related issues.

Moussa said his trip to Washington is not due to the failure of the U.S. initiative but due to the failure of the peace process as a whole.