U.S. special envoy Philip Habib conferred today with President Hosni Mubarak on his most recent efforts to achieve the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon and proceed toward a comprehensive Middle East settlement.
Foreign Minister Kamal Hassan Ali, who met with Habib yesterday and attended this morning’s meeting as well, said that the discussions found the U.S. and Egypt agreeing on the need to achieve a rapid withdrawal of Israeli and other foreign forces from Lebanon, to push the peace process ahead and to have Jordanian and Palestinian participation in forthcoming negotiations. He added that both sides also hoped for further “coordination and cooperation” between the PLO and Jordan in any future talks.
The Foreign Minister said that Habib was “trying his best to achieve something solid in his hands before the end of this year.”
Meanwhile, Ali, in a speech read on his behalf by Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Shafei Abdel Hamid at Al Azhar University on the occasion of Palestine National Day today, called for an Israeli withdrawal from East Jerusalem and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Ali also condemned Israel’s settlement policies and said that “Egypt considers them illegal” and that they “violate international law.”
In other developments, Ali was quoted yesterday by the Qatar News Agency as saying that the United States had sent a message to the PLO through Cairo which suggested that PLO recognition of Israel would enable the U.S. to enter into a dialogue with the organization, leading to a radical change in the current Middle East situation.
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