Mubarak to Peres: Israel must stop building settlements (Roundup)

Nov 22, 2009, 11:27 GMT

Cairo - Israeli President Shimon Peres met Sunday in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart Hosny Mubarak who said that the peace process in the region required the Jewish State to cease settlement construction in the West Bank.

'We need first to stop settlements in the occupied territories including east Jerusalem,' Mubarak said at a joint press conference with Peres, after a closed door meeting between the two leaders.

Mubarak said talks between Israel and the Palestinians should pick up where they last left off so that an agreement could be reached 'that ends the Palestinians' suffering' and allows them to establish a state based on the borders of 1967.

Peres said his country was seeking a solution that would satisfy both sides to the decades-old conflict.

The trip by the Israeli leader to the most populous Arab state was expected to last only several hours, and came a day after Mubarak lashed out at the Jewish state, saying it was blocking the Middle East peace process.

'Israel is destroying the opportunity for peace,' Mubarak told parliament on Saturday.

'I call on the leaders of Israel - stop your actions in the West Bank and remove the blockade on the (Gaza) Strip. Enough with your stubbornness and manipulations - accept the calls for peace.'

Peres' office said the closed door meeting between the two would focus the regional peace process as well as bilateral relations. The trip had been planned prior to Mubarak's speech.

Egypt became the first Arab country to develop full diplomatic relations with Israel in 1979, though ties between the neighbors have been tense at times.