CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Cairo has major reservations over the Israeli government's continued settlement construction, saying it is detrimental to furthering peace efforts. The two spoke on the phone last Thursday, but details from the conversation continues to remain a mystery, as Israeli newspapers published confirmation that the phone call from Netanyahu to Mubarak took place, but details from the PM's office were not forthcoming. According to reports, Mubarak said that Tel Aviv must freeze all construction of West Bank settlements for at least 10 months in order to allow for peace talks to take place, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported on Friday. The report said the Egyptian president told Netanyahu that Cairo had “reservations” over the Israeli declaration, stressing that the Israeli government must include “Jerusalem in the building freeze.” This comes after Netanyahu and the Israeli government said it would freeze all new construction plans in settlements for the coming period, but it would not include Jerusalem in this agreement. Netanyahu stressed that the settlement freeze would not be implemented in east Jerusalem, must to the frustration of Mubarak and Arabs across the region who view Jerusalem as a vital component of any peace deal with the Jewish state. “We do not put any restrictions on building in our sovereign capital,” the prime minister said. The Egyptian newspaper reported that Mubarak explained to Netanyahu that the Israeli government must meet certain commitments in order to lay the foundations “for reviving the peace process with the Palestinians.” Apart from the Jerusalem issue, no further details were available about the commitments mentioned between the two leaders. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday evening, defining the Israeli declaration as an “insufficient move, which does not meet the needs of the peace process.” The statement added that a resumption of the negotiations must be based on a clear foundation of trust building, and that the Israeli move does not meet this condition. Most analysts and observers believe that Jerusalem is the most important issue on the table and without a concerted effort by Israel to end its presence in East Jerusalem, a peace deal with the Palestinians will not be achieved. A former Egyptian foreign ministry official said that “Israel must understand that they cannot maintain this occupation of East Jerusalem if they want peace. If they don't want peace, then this is the way to go.” Egypt hopes to revive a stalled peace process that has been on the outs since Hamas won an election in 2006, leading Israel to implement a boycott of Gaza, which has fomented tensions between Israel and the Palestinians as well as creating divisions within Palestinian ranks. BM
