Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher and his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, will meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss a proposed international observer force to oversee implementation of the Mitchell Plan, said Israel Radio on Saturday.
The Mitchell Plan, named after the commission led by former US senator George Mitchell, calls among other things for the Israelis to stop expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Maher said in Cairo on Friday that he would ask Peres to make pledges concerning peace in the region, reported the official Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA.
Maher was quoted as saying in a press statement that his first question to Peres would be whether “he has pledges that his country is willing to implement or to discuss issues impossible to be implemented.”
Peres told Egyptian officials during his visit to Cairo last April that Israel was close to reaching an agreement with the Palestinians to stop "violence" and start negotiations, but he later backed off from this statement.
Maher stressed his country's firm rejection of Israeli policies, emphasizing that Israel was responsible for the violence, said the agency.
He continued by accusing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of causing violence and repression in the region.
Peres has said that his visit to Egypt is at the invitation of the Egyptian side. His presence in the country is expected to provoke harsh opposition. Newspapers accused him in April of Nazism and called on the government to dismiss him – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
