Mubarak, Peres spar on peace issues

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CAIRO, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Israel will anger all Muslims if it does not stop building on confiscated Palestinian land, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Sunday.

Mubarak and Israeli President Shimon Peres spokes at a news conference in Cairo after meeting on numerous issues, including Israel's decision to allow construction of an estimated 900 new homes in the Gilo area on the edge of East Jerusalem.

"I expressed my concern to President Peres that peace talks have not progressed since our last meeting in July and that Egypt is looking forward to an Israeli response, such as halting the building of settlements in east Jerusalem," Mubarak said.

Peres, at the news conference, called settlement construction a "marginal issue" which should not be allowed to interfere with a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, The Jerusalem Post reported.

"The minute we shall start to negotiate, there won't be new settlements, there won't be confiscation of land," Peres said.