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Egypt says Washington talks could be successful, with enough will

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December 21, 2000 

CAIRO--(UNB/AP) -The current peace talks in Washington could produce a Palestinian-Israeli agreement if there is sufficient political will, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said Thursday.

Moussa spoke to reporters after President Hosni Mubarak held separate talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and an Israeli envoy, former Cabinet minister Yossi Sarid.

The talks in Cairo came on the second day of resumed negotiations among Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. mediators at at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington. The negotiations are a bid to halt 13 weeks of violence in the Palestinian territories, in which more than 330 people have died, and to revive the search for a final peace accord.

Arafat said he had briefed Mubarak on the Washington talks and had listened to his advice. He did not elaborate and left promptly to return to Gaza.

Sarid told reporters the Washington negotiators would focus on three main issues: the future of the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in east Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees and the borders of a future Palestinian state.

The current violence began after a right-wing Israeli leader visited the mosque compound to assert Israeli ownership. Israel captured the site in the 1967 war and Palestinians see it as an essential part of their future capital.

Egypt has "an active and constructive role" to play in any peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Sarid said.

Moussa said that Egypt has ongoing consultations with both parties and, "if there is a political will and a clear intention, there will be progress."

Mubarak said Sunday that the Palestinians did not have the sole right to determine the future of east Jerusalem. The remark was seen as backing Palestinian claims to the Al Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in the Islamic world.

But Moussa said Wednesday that it was for the Palestinians alone to determine any compromise with Israel as they are "the owners of the land and the rights."

In 1979 Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel.