PRESIDENT Ezer Weizman of Israel assured his country's oldest Arab ally during a one day visit to Egypt yesterday that Israel was committed to the peace process.
"The government of Israel will continue to do all its best to achieve peace with the Palestinians", he said during a joint news conference with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.
"We are now reaching the moment of truth. We have to sit drown and talk" with the Palestinians, he added.
Mr Weizman's visit was an attempt to shore up faltering relations between the two countries and to allay Arab concerns that the policies of Israel's new hardline Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, are unravelling years of progress towards regional peace.
Although never warm, relations between Egypt and Israel have deteriorated sharply since Mr Netanyahu's election victory in May. Mr Mubarak has been sharply critical of the new Prime Minister's approach to the peace process, saying Mr Netanyahu's reluctance to implement peace accords will lead to violence.
To widespread accolades in Egypt and the rest of the Arab world, Mr Mubarak refused to attend the Middle East summit in Washington two weeks ago, on the grounds that Mr Netanyahu would not compromise on the issues that bad sparked last month's violence.
Since then, he has stated that he will not meet the Israeli leader unless he comes to an agreement with the Palestinians on the redeployment of troops in the West Bank town of Hebron. In an interview published in Time magazine yesterday he stated he is very, very, very upset" with Mr Netanyahu and warned that violence could break out if the Israeli leader persists in delaying the implementation of peace accords signed with the Palestinians.
Officials on both sides hoped that today's meeting would help reduce this rancour. The two men have known each other for 19 years, and although Mr Weizman's role is largely ceremonial, the outspoken former general was a key architect of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, and has been critical of Mr Netanyahu's policies.
Although Mr Mubarak pledged Egypt's support of the peace process after the meeting, he reiterated that there must be concrete progress towards peace if violence is to be avoided.
"It is not a matter of being upset or annoyed. It is a matter of discussing how to push the peace process forward so that it will reach the final goal," he said.
Reuter reports from Amman:
The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, met Jordan's King Hussein yesterday to brief him on talks over Israel's long delayed redeployment in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Jordanian officials said the two leaders held one to one talks. They were due to be joined by delegations including the Jordanian Prime Minister, Mr AbdulKarim al Kabarifi, and the chief PLO negotiator, Mr Saeb Erekat.
"We are here to meet King Hussein to discuss our concerns and difficulties about the lack of implementation of the accords, which we all signed," Mr Arafat said as he crossed into Jordan from the West Bank at the Allenby Bridge.
"There is still delay and procrastination," he said, adding that Israeli Palestinian committees discussing security, civilian and economic issues had made no progress.
King Hussein telephoned Mr Netanyahu during a break in his talks with Mr Arafat, Mr Kabriti said. He added that the talks between the Palestinian and Jordanian leaders were "good".