Mubarak urges Europe to pressure Israel on settlements (Roundup)

Sep 23, 2010, 16:01 GMT

Rome - Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak said Thursday he had asked Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and other European Union leaders to urge Israel to extend its moratorium on Jewish settlement expansion in Palestinian territories.

Israel needed 'to build trust' in the current 'crucial phase' of negotiations with the Palestinians, Mubarak said during a visit to Rome. He and Berlusconi were addressing reporters before resuming their talks.

Berlusconi, thanking Mubarak for his 'crucial role' in fostering the Mideast peace process, said he and other EU leaders would continue attempts to persuade Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to prolong the moratorium which is set to expire on Sunday 'until at least the end of the year.'

Mubarak said his visit to Rome, and Wednesday meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, were part of an attempt to win support from European leaders for the current peace process and their help in persuading the Israelis to extend the freeze on settlement expansion.

Earlier on Thursday, Mubarak presided at a morning ceremony to inaugurate Rome's renovated Egyptian Academy. Berlusconi also attended the function.

Established in 1929, the academy has been refurbished in an 8- million-euro (10.6-million-dollar) Egyptian government-funded project which began in 2008.

The new complex includes a museum - for exhibits of Egyptian, Coptic and Islamic art - a restaurant and a conference centre.

On Wednesday, Mubarak met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, where the two agreed that the current Mideast peace talks were a 'rare opportunity.'

Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said that, with an Israeli moratorium on settlement construction set to expire on Sunday, both leaders had voiced strong interest in keeping the negotiations going.

In Cairo, Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) has said that he was visiting Germany and Italy to brief officials there on the peace talks.

On the NDP website, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit was quoted as saying that Mubarak would bring up the topics of Iraq and Lebanon, too.

His trip was 'to provide maximum support for the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis, pointing out that the current stage requires efforts at the international level in order to maintain the continuation of the peace process, which is still in its early stages,' the statement said.