U.S. hopeful on Mideast peace as Mubarak meets Clinton

The Obama administration is hopeful that conditions can be created soon to resume stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the U.S. State Department said Monday ahead of talks between President Obama and Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.

"We're trying to work hard to create conditions for negotiation to continue and we hope to have this phase of this process completed in the next few weeks," spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters after an hour-long meeting between Mubarak and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a Washington hotel.

Crowley said Egypt and the United States agreed that all sides - Israel, the Palestinians and Arab states - need to take "parallel steps" to set the stage for a return to negotiations. Those include a halt to settlement activity by Israel, Palestinian moves to improve security and gestures by Arab nations toward normalization of relations with Israel.

"I think Egypt and the United States share the view that we have to have parallel steps here," he said.

During a meeting with American Jewish officials in Washington earlier on Monday, Mubarak expressed "surprisingly positive" views about the Israeli leadership though he stopped short of expressing his support for a normalization of Israeli-Arab ties prior to a final peace, a participant in the meeting told Haaretz.

One official said Mubarak, who is in Washington for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, had warm words for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and President Shimon Peres.

The Egyptian leader said the current Israeli leadership is committed to moving the peace process forward with the Palestinians.

"We thanked him for his efforts on the peace process and the constructive role that he played in the region, told him that we share his vision for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but he can communicate to the Israeli people and the government that there is a growing desire in the Arab world to normalize relations with Israel," the official said.

Earlier on Monday, Mubarak said that Arab states will be willing to recognize and normalize ties with Israel only after a just and comprehensive Middle East peace is achieved.

But Jewish officials urged Mubarak to impress upon his fellow Arab leaders the necessity of confidence-building gestures toward Israel prior to a final deal.

"We tried to explain our view that parallel gestures will convince Israel to be more forthcoming," the official said. "He certainly listened to us, and hopefully it bears some fruit, but it's early to say before his meeting with administration officials."

Mubarak told the al-Ahram daily that the Arab experience with stalled peace talks in the wake of the 1991 Madrid peace conference "did not encourage" taking steps towards normalization with Israel.

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell in July called on Arab states to take "meaningful steps towards normalization of relations with Israel."

"I affirmed to [U.S.] President [Barack] Obama in Cairo that the Arab initiative offers recognition of Israel and normalization with it after, and not before, achieving a just and comprehensive peace," Mubarak told al-Ahram.

"I told him that some Arab states which had mutual trade representation offices with Israel could consider reopening those offices if Israel commits to stopping settlement [building] and resumes final status negotiations with the Palestinian Authority where they left off with Olmert's government," Mubarak added.

Asked about possible Egyptian participation in an extended U.S. "defense umbrella" referred to in July by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a response to a nuclear Iran, Mubarak said Egypt would not be part of it as it would not allow foreign troops or experts on its land.

Additionally, such an umbrella would imply a tacit recognition of a regional nuclear power, which Mubarak said Egypt was opposed to, whether it was Iran or Israel.

Mubarak also dismissed speculation that he was planning to dissolve parliament. Independent Egyptian newspapers have suggested Mubarak could dissolve the assembly to remove the more vocal opponents of his government as a first step to engineering a succession that would bring his son Gamal, 45, to power.

"I have no reasons today that would raise the necessity for dissolving parliament," Mubarak said.

A handover to Gamal, a senior official in the ruling National Democratic Party, is not a done deal and is not the only possibility, but analysts see it as a likely scenario and it is frequently mooted in the independent press.