SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, 21 November 2007 — Egypt offered broad support yesterday for peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians in the United States next week but again pressed for a firm timetable for setting up a Palestinian state.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak endorsed the meeting at a joint news conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is looking for wide Arab participation in the Annapolis conference called by US President George W. Bush.

“I look forward to it (the conference) leading to the launching of serious peace negotiations, which deal with all final status issues in a defined timeframe and according to an agreed follow-up mechanism,” Mubarak said.

Olmert said he welcomed Egyptian support for the Annapolis conference but played down expectations that the meeting would lead to quick results. “The fact that ... the leader of such an important Arab state which is Egypt, led by President Mubarak, gives his backing ... is proof of its success,” he said.

“The negotiations are not simple. After 60 years, is it possible to sit down in one go and in a week solve our problems? ... But I am optimistic that if we act responsibly there is a chance we can achieve an agreement,” he added.

Olmert also said that he hoped to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians next year. “I hope to reach a definitive deal with the Palestinians in 2008,” Olmert said.

Olmert said that Israel considered the Arab peace initiative “as very important in the framework of efforts to reach a peace deal.” “I have no doubt that in the coming year, this initiative will contribute much to the process between us and the Palestinians.”

Olmert also warned that to reach a peace deal, “the Palestinian Authority must still exert much effort to battle terrorism” and that “terrorists are trying to compromise the Annapolis meeting.” Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have been trying in vain for weeks to bridge yawning gaps and agree on a joint statement ahead of Annapolis that will serve as a basis for the final status negotiations expected to kick off afterward.

“There will be no implementation of the treaty before the road map commitments are all implemented,” Olmert said. “The commitments also apply to the Gaza Strip, (for the Palestinians) Gaza must be part of the Palestinian state and then, naturally, the Palestinians must fight terrorism, and that includes the Gaza Strip.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in Jerusalem yesterday that Israel would continue ongoing settlement construction in the occupied West Bank despite Palestinian demands to stop such activity.

“It is not possible from a legal point of view to stop construction projects that have been ongoing for years,” Barak said in a statement. Barak said that wildcat settlement outposts — those not authorized by the Israeli government — “will be evacuated and there will be no creation of settlements or large projects” in the territory. And in another development, Syria resisted international pressure and insisted yesterday that it would only attend a US-hosted Middle East peace conference next week if the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights are on the agenda.

“The Golan must be on the schedule for Syria to participate. We are very interested in peace but the process should be comprehensive,” Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad said after meeting his Russian counterpart Alexander Sultanov in Damascus.