Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Wednesday it was "illogical" to talk about holding an Arab summit "every time something happens," after talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, the state MENA news agency reported, cited by AFP.
"It is illogical to consider a summit every time something happens,” said Mubarak, who added: "What use would a summit be now?"
"Holding mini-summits or maxi-summits is not the question,” he said, adding that "contacts can yield results, whether they are held between the Palestinians and Israel only, or with the United States and the European Union.”
Palestinian sources had expected Arafat to seek a mini-summit that would be swifter and more efficient, should a major Arab summit prove impossible.
Arafat had just toured Arab countries, reportedly in an attempt to garner support for an emergency Arab summit on the Israeli escalation in the Palestinian territories.
But Arafat, who met with Mubarak briefly at a seaside resort near Alexandria Wednesday, was quoted by Al Jazeera satellite channel as denying he had been pushing for such an event.
The two men first met privately for about 10 minutes at the resort of Borg Al Arab and were then joined by their aides.
Arafat had met with Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher on Tuesday night, discussing the need to "coordinate Egyptian and Palestinian efforts to put an end to the Israeli aggression,” a spokesman said.
Arafat is currently on a tour of the Arab world, having arrived in Egypt after a stop in Saudi Arabia and Jordan after a trip to Tunisia. He has left for Rome where he is due to hold talks on the Middle East situation with Italian leaders and meet with Pope John Paul II.
The official Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA, has quoted Arafat’s aide, Nabil Abu Rudeinah, as saying that the tour was to push for an extraordinary Arab summit to face the escalation of Israeli violence against the Palestinians.
Following the talks between the two leaders in the Borg Al-Arab resort, a Palestinian delegation led by top negotiator Saeb Erakat met with Egyptian officials led by Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher -- Albawaba.com
