CAIRO, 22 June 2004 — Egypt plans a campaign to promote its Middle East peace plan this week, starting with a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories by intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, the official news agency MENA said yesterday.

Envoys from the Middle East Quartet of mediators — the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia — will then meet in the Egyptian resort of Taba on Thursday to try to revive the parallel “road map” peace plan, the agency added.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is in Germany, will also send an envoy to Washington to press the Bush administration to resume the traditional US role as mediator between Israelis and Palestinians, it said.

Under Egypt’s plan, the Palestinian Authority would consolidate and restructure Palestinian security organizations, MENA said. Israel would initially withdraw from the Gaza Strip and eventually pull out from all of the Palestinian territories.

The agency said that on his trip to the West Bank town of Ramallah, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Suleiman will seek guarantees that both sides will implement the plan and not allow violations.

He will meet Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and a representative of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Egypt has offered to provide up to 200 security experts to train the Palestinian security forces but the MENA report, written by its political editor, did not mention that offer.

Palestinian officials said on Sunday that Egypt will not send the experts to Gaza ahead of any Israeli pullout unless all Palestinian factions accept Cairo’s role and a truce.

The officials said Egypt was disturbed by opposition to its proposed role from Palestinian factions and from several security chiefs who fear losing their jobs.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) gave conflicting signals over the Egyptian initiative yesterday, suggesting an internal rift in the organization over the issue.

Its armed wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, rejected the Egyptian plan in a statement and refused to guarantee the safety of Egyptian security experts.

The PFLP’s political wing, however, said the brigade’s statement did not reflect PFLP policy. But it but did not deny the statement was authentic.