Middle East News

Egypt's Mubarak presses Bush on peace process progress (Roundup)

May 17, 2008, 15:00 GMT

Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - US President George W Bush held a closed meeting Saturday with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where the stalled Israeli- Palestinian peace process and the Lebanon crisis topped the agenda. The Egyptian leader asked Bush for a firm commitment to achieving some concrete progress in the peace process by the end of 2008, the end of Bush's term in office, Egyptian diplomatic sources said. Bush heard the same message in Saudi Arabia, the second leg of his five-day Middle East tour. Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal criticized Israel for expanding settlements in the West Bank and aggravating the human suffering of the Palestinians. Egypt is mediating a ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas but has so far failed to make a breakthrough. Mubarak is under increasing domestic pressure to help the Palestinians languishing under an Israel blockade in the Gaza Strip. Egypt has been pressing the US government, the sources said, to work harder towards the target set by the administration itself: to reach a peace deal that eventually lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state by the end of 2008. But realistically, Bush has only eight months left in office and the chances of achieving a breakthrough are very slim, many analysts in the region think. The Lebanon standoff was also discussed at the US-Egyptian summit. Both leaders are extremely concerned over recent violence in Lebanon and the influence Iran is wielding through the Shiite Hezbollah group, its main ally there. The US president is meeting with world and regional leaders on the fringes of the World Economic Forum, which will be opened in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday. After his talks with Mubarak, Bush met Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai. Commenting on a rise in oil output by 300,000 barrels per day announced by Saudi Arabia, Bush said it was insufficient. Saudi Arabia has been opposed to any big output increase saying it was unlikely to curb skyrocketing prices and arguing that market speculations were to blame. Bush is expected to hold separate meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah in Sharm el- Sheikh.

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