CAIRO - President Hosni Mubarak Thursday separately conferred on Thursday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah II for talks over the US call to start direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. The talks focused on the international calls to restart face-to-face negotiations, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. Abbas briefed Mubarak on his recent meeting with US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell, which did not result in an agreement. Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries having diplomatic ties with Israel. Washington has reportedly threatened it would only sustain ties with the Palestinian Authority if it restarts the negotiations, which have been stalled for nearly two years. The PA has repeatedly said that it would only resume talks after Tel Aviv ended its expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank and accepted a full withdrawal to the borders of 1967. It has also called for the resumption of the negotiations from the point they were left off at the end of 2008. Abbas insists the conditions he set forward "were just and based on a genuine Palestinian will" to enter peace talks. "We are rational and believe in our rights and the search for peace for our people," he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, however, rejected any preconditions and urged Abbas to come to the negotiating table "right now."
