US President George W. Bush discussed efforts to forge peace in the Middle East with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Thursday, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
Bush "called President Mubarak to review the situation in the Middle East. The president praised President Mubarak's 'courageous leadership'" and diplomatic efforts, Fleischer told reporters, as cited by AFP.
"The United States and Egypt are working closely together to end the violence and to stop the terrorism," he said.
Mubarak also discussed the situation with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, according to the Palestinian official news agency (WAFA).
Bush specifically noted that Mubarak had dispatched Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher to Israel to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Meanwhile, a senior State Department official said Washington was extremely pleased with Mubarak's decision to send his foreign minister on the mission.
"Maher going to Israel is quite something," the official said, hinting that the trip was at least partly the result of US engagement in the region.
"These are the products of the ongoing engagement that we keep talking about," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "This is what the phone calls and the visits and the discussions lead to."
The Egyptian leader decided to send Maher to Israel to contribute to efforts aimed at securing a Palestinian-Israeli ceasefire to prevent any military escalation that could threaten regional stability, Israeli public radio said.
Maher said that he had come to an agreement with Israel on the basic principle that there will be a Palestinian state existing alongside Israel, "in security and cooperation."
"I cannot say we see eye-to-eye because there are still points of difference," Maher said following his meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, quoted by Haaretz.
"But we agreed on the goal, which is to ensure a Palestinian state living beside an Israeli state in security and cooperation."
According to the Tel Aviv-based Haaretz, Sharon told Maher that there is "no cycle of violence [between Israel and the Palestinians]; there is Palestinian terror and Israeli efforts to end it." The statement followed a call by Maher for the two sides to end the cycle of violence that has plagued the region for the past 14 months.
After his meeting with Sharon, Maher met with Peres and President Moshe Katsav.
Peres told reporters after the meeting that Arafat needed to arrest militants as a matter of urgency.
"Why were we so impatient?" Peres said. "Not because we want to put an ultimatum before the Palestinians, but at this very moment we know there is a warning of some more suicide bombers trying to enter Israel. Another bomb will really make the situation impossible." – Albawaba.com
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