By Xinhua
Cairo : Visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Tuesday said he hoped a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians could be reached in 2008.
Olmert made the remarks after his talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Doha-based al-Jazeera satellite TV reported.
At a joint press conference after the meeting, Olmert said, “I hope we can reach a definitive deal with the Palestinians in 2008.”
Earlier, he said that he hoped to make serious strides toward such a deal before the term of U.S. President George W. Bush ends in January 2009.
However, the Israeli Prime Minister pointed out that any future peace deal would not be implemented until the Palestinian Authority retakes control of the Gaza Strip and the roadmap commitments are all implemented, which requires the Palestinians to fight terrorism to ensure security in the areas including the Gaza Strip, which must be part of the Palestinian state.
Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip with force in June this year, while the Fatah movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas controlled the West Bank, which weakens Palestinian negotiations with Israel, according to analysts.
For his part, Mubarak said he hoped the international peace conference to be held in Annapolis, Maryland at the end of this month, would end the Middle East peace process deadlock on the Palestinian-Israeli track.
“Progress on the Palestinian-Israeli track will help end deadlocks on other tracks,” Mubarak added, noting that it is time for giving the Palestinian-Israeli peace a push to revive hopes to achieve it and the comprehensive peace in the Mideast region.
Mubarak also promised continuing Egyptian efforts to push the peace process forward just as Egypt has done over the past three decades.
Replying to media questions, the 79-year-old Egyptian President also noted that he was ready to go to Israel if the visit would solve the Palestinian problem.
Apart from his unofficial visit to Israel to attend the funeral of the slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, Mubarak has never been in Israel on an official visit like his predecessor Anwar Sadat, who started the first trip to Israel by an Arab leader in November 1977.
The talks between Mubarak and Olmert, who arrived in Egypt earlier in the day, came amid efforts to make preparations for an upcoming Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, the United States, later this month.
Arab League foreign ministers are to meet in Cairo on Thursday to discuss the participation in the Annapolis gathering.