Egypt says no settlement freeze, no peace

CAIRO, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu Gheit said only a U.N.-backed resolution calling for a total Israeli settlement freeze will allow peace talks to resume.

Speaking in Cairo Thursday, Abu Gheit said Israel's refusal to impose a West Bank settlement freeze is the reason peace talks with the Palestinian Authority have failed, Middle East Online reported Friday.

If the United States can give such guarantees in writing and they are backed by the international community in the form of a U.N. Security Council resolution, it will be an accomplishment, the agency quoted Abu Gheit as saying.

"This solution would set borders of the future Palestinian state through an international resolution and would place East Jerusalem within the borders," Abu Gheit said,

The foreign minister's statements came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo to discuss the peace process the agency said.

At a press conference with Clinton Wednesday, Abu Gheit said the issue must be solved in the interests of the Palestinian people "who then can resume negotiations with Israel on the basis of a U.N. Security Council resolution," the agency said.

While Israel has said the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority must start immediately without any preconditions, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said only after Israel agrees to impose a total settlement freeze, will talks begin.