CAIRO, Aug 1 (Saba) -- The talks between Egyptian and Israelis Presidents, Hosni Mubarak and Shimon Peres respectively, focused on keeping the peace process in the Middle east serious and within a time-frame that would enable for everlasting peace, stated an official here on Sunday, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

Official spokesman for the Egyptian President Suleiman Awwad told the press that the discussions came as a continuation to the talks which Mubarak had initiated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordanian King Abdullah II, and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

He noted Mubarak stressed during the discussions that the peace issue must be carried out with all due seriousness, adding that the Arab peace initiative follow up committee did give President Abbas a "green light" to pursue direct talks with Israel in the condition that Palestinian demands were met.

Issues such as the halt of settlement building and the lift of the blockade over the Gaza Strip were but a few of such paramount demands which seemed to be logical to carry out on part of Israeli, said Awwad.

Regarding the settlement issues, Awwad said that Mubarak called for the end of such procedures that would lead to dangerous consequences which might leave the Palestinians with less sufficient land to build their future state.

Awwad was also asked about whether the US administration would act as partial during the direct talks, he answered the question by asserted that President Barack Obama and his administration vowed to work on efforts until peace was reached.
However, the official called on the US side to pursue measures that would make such promises for peace as a reality on the ground.

The Egyptian spokesman also touched on the issue of the Palestinian division and whether it would affect the talks for peace and said that such sorrowful situation must also be met by measures to bring Palestinians back together to build their proposed future nation.

Awwad returned to the issue concerning the talks between Peres and Mubarak, noting that Peres did not set a date to when the direct talks would begin, adding that such matter would need to be planned for ahead of time.

If the direct talks were fully backed up by the major key supports of the process, then there would be no surprise that such attempt for peace would creditable, affirmed Awwad.

When asked about the possibility of holding a peace conference for the Mideast, Awwad said that Russia had previously called for such a meeting, and Mubarak as well as French President Nicolas Sarkozy also were willing to include discussions on the matter during the upcoming meeting for the Mediterranean countries this fall.

Saba