CAIRO: Israel’s prime minister on Tuesday presented Egypt with ideas for restarting Middle East peace talks, impressing his hosts with proposals that go further than past Israeli positions, Egypt’s top diplomat said.
The sides also discussed the latest developments in efforts to broker a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas. A top Hamas official in Damascus told The Associated Press that the group had rejected the latest proposal from Israel. He said Israel was refusing to release key prisoners and insisting on mass deportation of freed Palestinians.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit refused to divulge specifics on Tuesday’s discussions, but said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears serious about trying to resume negotiations with the Palestinians. “I can’t talk about details, but the prime minister was discussing positions that surpass in our estimate what we’ve heard from them in a long time,” Aboul Gheit told reporters. “I can’t say that he has come with changed positions, but he is moving forward.”
Netanyahu jetted in from neighboring Israel for nearly three hours of talks with President Hosni Mubarak and other Egyptian leaders. Netanyahu came at a difficult time as the US tries to prod Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. The Palestinians have said they will not reopen negotiations until Israel freezes all settlement activity on lands they claim for a future independent state. Israel has offered a partial freeze that the Palestinians say is insufficient.
In the latest setback for peace efforts, Israel announced plans on Monday to build nearly 700 new homes in East Jerusalem, the section of the city that the Palestinians want to make their capital.
The Palestinians have also insisted that Netanyahu resume talks from the point they broke off under his dovish predecessor, Ehud Olmert.
