Egypt to press deal on Middle East "final status"

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told a news conference that the quest should take precedence over the Middle East peace plan known as the road map, announced by international mediators in 2003 but never fully implemented.

"There is a common position by Egypt, Jordan, the Arabs and the Palestinians calling for 'let us agree on the end of the road and let us agree on what we call...the endgame before we talk about the road map'," he said.

Egypt has floated the same idea before, but it did so this time two days before Rice leaves on a Middle East tour billed as another drive to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

For the past few years, peace moves have concentrated on trying to bring about small confidence-building measures, leaving aside bigger questions such as the borders of a future Palestinian state or the fate of Palestinian refugees.

The Egyptian campaign for a rethink, backed to some extent by Jordan, has made little difference to the policies of the United States, which continues to propose short-term measures by Israelis and Palestinians.

Aboul Gheit added: "The endgame has its specific concepts... Let's agree on the frameworks of the (peace) settlement. This is the Egyptian position." He did not elaborate.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib, who spoke at the same news conference, did not dispute the Egyptian minister's interpretation of Jordan's position.

"The final settlement is a Palestinian demand and an Arab demand, and there must be agreement on the final settlement whatever steps and stages it takes," Khatib added.

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