Mubarak in Washington for Mideast talks

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has arrived in Washington for talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama, to discuss the stalled Arab-Israeli peace deal.

In what is his first visit to the United States in five years, Mubarak is expected to focus on Middle East peace, the Iranian nuclear program, Sudan, combating “extremists and promoting reform across the Arab world,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit told Al-Ahram daily on Saturday.

“The visit now comes at a critical time… because the American side is coming closer to announcing its vision on how to achieve peace and end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Abul-Gheit said.

The country’s top diplomat was referring to a recent report in the New York Times which said Obama is expected to launch a public relations campaign in the Middle East to explain his vision for a peace deal.

Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since 1981, is also to meet other senior officials, including the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, National Security Advisor James Jones and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair.

Egypt, one of the two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, is currently a key player in the Obama administration’s diplomatic drive in the Middle East.

It is mediating reconciliation talks between the Western-backed Fatah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the democratically-elected government of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as well as trying to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian road map for peace.

The road map, a plan proposed by the quartet for the Middle East in 2003, calls for the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is faced with global criticism over its refusal to freeze Israeli settlements expansion in the West Bank, has used every possible means to stall the two-state solution.

The Netanyahu government has even snubbed calls by its number one sponsor – the United States – to halt its settlement constructions, creating a rare gap between Washington and Tel Aviv.