Egypt refuses to pressure Arafat

Egypt says it will not force the Palestinians to make concessions

Egypt has offered to help Israel reach a peace deal with the Palestinians but said it would not put pressure on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to make concessions on Jerusalem.

The Israeli leader Ehud Barak has been having talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at his summer palace in the Mediterranean port of Alexandria.

Jerusalem is sacred to Christian, Muslims and Jews

Mr Barak's visit comes a day after the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, had talks in Egypt as part of a campaign to gather international support for his negotiating stance at Camp David.

A senior Israeli official said Mr Barak had hoped the Egyptian leader would lead an Arab initiative on softening the stand on Jerusalem, but the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Amr Mousa, said Egypt remained firm in its support of Mr Arafat.

Legal frameworks

"Our assistance is assured... but we remain firm that any settlement, in order to last, has to be balanced, it has to be fair," Mr Mousa said.

It seems to me that we found an attentive ear in the Egyptian president

Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak

He said concessions were needed on all sides within an international legal framework, not outside it.

"Are we supposed to put pressure on President Arafat to make concessions on Jerusalem? This is not our job," Mr Mousa said.

The Camp David peace summit near Washington broke down last week, with the issue of Jerusalem - home to sites sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians - the main stumbling block.

Arab position

Arab leaders have supported Mr Arafat's refusal to accept nothing less than full sovereignty of East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.

Israel, however, wants all of Jerusalem as its "eternal and undivided" capital.

After talks on Thursday, Mr Barak and Mr Mubarak agreed "not to let the peace process fail".

"It seems to me that we found an attentive ear in the Egyptian president to the problems on the one hand and the need to try to resolve them," Mr Barak said on his return to Israel.

But he gave few details of his 90-minute talk with Mr Mubarak.

Cairo has mediated between the two sides for years, playing a key role in restarting negotiations.

Last September it hosted an Israeli-Palestinian summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

And earlier this year, Mr Mubarak persuaded Mr Arafat to restart talks despite their anger of Israel's failure to fulfil interim agreements.

Correspondents say US President Bill Clinton, who mediated at Camp David, was hoping Mr Mubarak would influence Mr Arafat as he did previously.

The Palestinian leader is due back in Egypt for talks next week.