Mubarak meets U.S. envoy on Mideast peace

By Published: Apr 19, 2009 11:05 AM Updated: May 25, 2011 12:44 PM

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (R) meets with visiting U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell in Presidential House in Cairo, capital of Egypt, April 18, 2009. (xinhua/Zhang Ning)

CAIRO, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met Saturday the visiting U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell on the latest developments in the regional peace process at the presidential residence in Cairo, local Nile TV reported.

Visiting U.S. Middle East Envoy George Mitchell addresses a press conference after meeting with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in Presidential House in Cairo, capital of Egypt, April 18, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhang Ning)

Mubarak and Mitchell reviewed the Palestinian situation and the vision of Egypt on the issue, the report said, quoting Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who also attended the meeting.

Aboul Gheit added that Mitchell briefed Mubarak on the outcome of the consultations during his current tour.

George Mitchell's third visit to Egypt is part of a regional trip which has taken him to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Israel and Palestinian territories.

The trip came after U.S. President Barack Obama's landmark speech in Turkey, in which he said the United States will not at war with Islam and reiterated his administration's commitment to the two-state solution.

Earlier on Friday, Mitchell said in the West Bank city of Ramallah that the two-state solution is "the only best solution."

But the envoy's zeal to broker peace was snubbed by the new Israeli leadership when he visited the Jewish country on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has paid little lip service to the peace plan since assumed power in late March, said in a statement that the creation of a Palestinian state at the current stage is premature and would play into the hands of Hamas.

Furthermore, the controversial Israeli Foreign Minister Avidgor Lieberman said after his meeting with Mitchell that "new ideas and a new approach" are needed at the current state, criticizing the "traditional approach" that has yielded few results to date.