Mubarak tables peace plan for Middle East

Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt, is expected to arrive in the United States today brandishing a formula for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

His visit comes less than a week before Ariel Sharon is due in Washington, having been summoned for his sixth meeting as Prime Minister of Israel with President George Bush, while the White House moves anew to break the Middle East logjam.

In an interview with The New York Times, President Mubarak said he would press Mr Bush to support the declaration of a Palestinian state early next year on all the territory recognised by the United Nations as Palestinian.

The core issues, such as boundaries, refugees and the division of Jerusalem, would be tackled afterwards.

Mr Mubarak's manoeuvre is designed to re-establish Egypt's central role in the new round of peace-making initiatives. He coupled it with an offer to visit Israel, repeating the trip made by his predecessor Anwar Sadat in 1977.

He presented his initiative as a mechanism for implementing the Saudi plan, which calls for Israel to withdraw from all the occupied territories in return for normal relations with Arab states. It comes amid diplomatic jockeying for position as the Americans work on plans to convene a regional peace conference later this summer. Part of this involves pressuring Mr Arafat to reform his Palestinian Authority. Yesterday George Tenet, the CIA director, met Mr Arafat and his security chiefs to discuss overhauling the Palestinian security forces.

There was no sign, however, that Israel was willing to offer the Palestinians any credible prospect of political progress.

Palestinian sources said last night that Israeli troops withdrew from the Ein Beyt Ilma refugee camp, on the outskirts of Nablus, after arresting 50 people. In the West Bank village of Beit Omar, near Hebron, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager, witnesses said.