Egypt official: Conditions not right for peace summit

Egypt informed the United States that conditions are not right for a tripartite summit between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, according to an Egyptian source quoted in Al-Hayat on Wednesday.

According to the report, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week that the time is not right for the meeting.

The comments come after Aboul Gheit last week reportedly said Israel's willingness to give the Palestinians "100 percent of the West Bank" and the readiness to discuss Arab Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine indicate "openness, goodwill and a change compared to the past."

Aboul Gheit also recently said he was encouraged by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Cairo, adding that the premier is serious about restarting peace talks with the Palestinians.

He refused to share details of what Netanyahu proposed, but he said the premier presented proposals that surpassed Israel's previous positions.

Netanyahu, however, declared on Tuesday that Israel would never cede control of united Jerusalem nor retreat to the 1967 borders, according to a bureau statement.