By NNN-KUNA
Cairo : Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said that he was ready to visit Israel if it helps solve the Palestinian issue, noting that Israel-Egypt relations are stable and there is no problem about exchange of visits between officials on both sides.
Addressing a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh Tuesday, Mubarak said Israeli and Egyptian security bodies are meeting constantly every week to curb arms smuggling into Israel or leaving arms and explosives inside the Sinae desert.
“During the past six months 186 tunnels have been destroyed and there are actions we do not declare like seizure of arms,” Mubarak said.
He said the operation was “not simple” and great efforts were being exerted to prevent arms delivery into Israel.
He said the region has long suffered from violence and bloodshed and it was time to impose comprehensive peace.
Mubarak expressed hope that the Annapolis Middle East peace conference next week would break the stalemate in the peace process at the Palestinian-Israeli track to open the way for progress on other tracks.
He said talks with Olmert were frank and constructive at the level of peace and bilateral relations.
He said peace was an objective for both the Palestinian and Israeli people, noting that a just and peaceful settlement for the Palestinian problem during these negotiations was the key objective to push forward the peace process at all tracks.
The Annapolis meeting, sponsored by US President George W. Bush, coincides with the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s historic offical visit to Jerusalem almost exactly 30 years ago on Nov 19, 1977, the first trip to Israel by an Arab leader, Mubarak recalled, noting that it is time to give a new push for peace efforts.
He said the Annapolis meeting is the start to relaunch serious negotiations, wishing success for the talks.
However, he said there were some obstacles that should be overcome to ease the peace process. “Let us wait and see what happens in Annapolis,” he said.
On the Palestinian state, Mubarak called on the Hamas and Fatah movements to solve their differences. “There should be one Palestinian state including Gaza and the West Bank with one president. This will take time,” he said.
In his turn, Olmert said the objective of the Annapolise conference is to relaunch negotiations for a settlement based on solving the key issues of the Palestinian problem leading to creation of two states, Palestine and Israel.
He thanked Mubarak for his efforts to solve the Palestinian problem and the convocation of the Middle East peace conference.
“Serious talks” were held with Mubarak covering efforts to stop “terrorist” operation against Israel and Hamas militants who attempt to inflitrate into Israel.
He said agenda for joint Israeli-Egyptian action has been set up to cooperate on preventing terrorists’ infiltrations from Gaza Strip.
He said the 60-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict could not be solved in one or two days, expressing hope of reaching satisfactory results during the Annapolis meeting.
Olmert called on the Palestinian side to meet its obligations towards Israel and that the Israeli side would do so whenever the Palestinians met their commitments.
He said the Annapolis meeting was a start of negotiations.
Olmert said he wanted to tell the Arab world that the negotiations would deal with the key issues aimed at reaching establishment of two states.