CAIRO - President Hosni Mubarak Wednesday held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on ways to break the impasse in peace negotiations with the Palestinians. The meeting was aimed at pushing forward the peace process after the United States, which sponsored face-to-face Palestinian-Israeli talks, said in December it had failed to persuade Israel to restrict settlement building activity, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. An Egyptian official said the talks had focused on means to help break the impasse in the peace diplomacy, but did not give details. Mubarak blamed Israel for the collapse of talks in a speech to the Egyptian Parliament last month and called on Washington to reinvigorate the process. Ahead of the talks, a statement from the Israeli leader's office said the two leaders would discuss ideas to advance the peace process, regional issues and other subjects of interest to the two neighbours. "I am going to speak with Mubarak about the advancement of the peace process and the strengthening of security," Netanyahu said before leaving, in comments broadcast on Israel army radio. Netanyahu says Gaza-based Hamas activists and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas want to "disturb the quiet" but "we will not let them". The Palestinians say they will not resume talks without a complete freeze in settlement building. Israel rejects this demand. International efforts are now focused on ways to try and bring the two parties back to some form of indirect negotiations.
