Mubarak’s Aides Said to Have Rebuffed Mubarak-peres Meeting

German diplomats attempted without success to arrange a meeting between President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Israeli Premier Shimon Peres, both of whom are in Europe, sources here disclosed today. They said the efforts were rebuffed by Mubarak’s aides.

Peres is currently visiting West Germany. Mubarak was in Strasbourg today to address the European Parliament. He will confer with President Francois Mitterrand in Paris tomorrow and will visit Bonn on Thursday, the day after Peres returns to Israel.

Uri Savir, a spokesman for Peres, ruled out a meeting with Mubarak on German soil. He said Israel was interested in a summit meeting, but only in the Middle East. This morning, Peres received a detailed report on his Cabinet colleague Ezer Weizman’s meeting with Mubarak in Cairo Sunday.

The Premier told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that there was some progress in relations with Egypt but declined to elaborate. Weizman, a Minister-Without-Portfolio, went to Cairo reportedly to persuade Mubarak of the urgency to hold a summit meeting with Peres before the soured relations between Israel and Egypt deteriorate further. His mission was unannounced but had the approval of Peres, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, the leader of Likud. Weizman was joined by the Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gen. (Res.) Avraham Tamir, who had been accompanying Peres on his European tour but flew back to the Middle East Sunday to participate in the Cairo meeting.

Weizman’s trip drew the ire of Likud hardliners, who criticized Shamir for approving it. Referring to the critics today, Peres said, “It is good that he (Weizman) went to Egypt and it is good that talks are being held. In some ways people in Israel are out of tune with the developments in Egypt.”