Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdel-Ilah Khatib was due in Alexandria Saturday for talks with his Egyptian counterpart Amr Moussa on obstacles facing the Israeli-Palestinian Camp David summit, foreign ministry officials said.
The two ministers will focus in their talks on "the latest developments on the peace process in the light of obstacles facing negotiations currently underway in Camp David," Egypt's state-run MENA news agency reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat were entering their 12th day of talks Saturday with the aim of concluding a final peace agreement to end the 50-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II, whose countries made peace with Israel in 1979 and 1994 respectively, spoke by telephone on Friday to discuss the Camp David summit.
The two Arab leaders agreed that progress must lead to a settlement that guarantees the Palestinians' "legitimate rights" such as the right to establish a state," MENA said.
MOUSSA: IF ISRAEL HAS ITS RED LINES ON JERUSALEM, SO DO THE ARABS
The Arab world, and not only Israel, has "red lines" on the fate of Jerusalem at the Camp David Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, Moussa said Saturday, ahead of meeting with Khatib.
"The important thing is to understand that just as Barak talks of red lines for Israel, there are also red lines for the Palestinians or the Arabs," Moussa told state television.
"Especially because we're talking about a final settlement," he said in an interview with the Good Morning Egypt program on channel one.
"Jerusalem, which is an extremely sensitive subject, cannot be solved by Israel alone. That would be impossible," he said.
Before the Camp David summit began, Barak sparked Arab and Palestinian anger by laying down a series of "red lines" which he said he would not cross in negotiating issues such as the status of east Jerusalem, the return of Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements and borders.
The Camp David negotiations, which aim at reaching a final peace settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians, are "an extremely sensitive matter, extremely sensitive," Moussa said – (AFP)
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