Egypt's Mubarak to visit France for Mideast talks

CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) -- Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak will go to Paris on Friday to discuss the Palestinian and Syrian tracks of Middle East peacemaking with President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, presidential sources said.

They said Mubarak would meet the French president on Friday and Jospin on Saturday. Foreign Minister Amr Moussa will hold talks with his French counterpart Hubert Vedrine on Friday.

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Mubarak wants to get European support for a "balanced" draft agreement on Jerusalem and other issues snagging final-status talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the sources said.

He also wants backing for his view that none of the key questions, including the status of Jerusalem, borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlers in the West Bank, should be deferred for future negotiations.

France, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, is traditionally viewed in Arab countries as more sympathetic to the Palestinians than the United States, the main broker in Middle East peace efforts.

Egyptian leaders acknowledge that they do not see eye to eye with Washington on all aspects of Israeli-Palestinian talks.

"I don't claim that we have identical views on all points pertaining to the peace process," Moussa said this week.

The sources said the disagreements had surfaced during U.S. President Bill Clinton's talks with Mubarak in Cairo on Tuesday.

"France is a country with great interests in (Middle East) peace and it has a recognized big role in assisting in the Middle East issue, as well as being current European Union head," Moussa told reporters on Wednesday after talks between Mubarak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Arafat has met Mubarak six times since last month's 15-day summit at Camp David in the United States ended without agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Israeli acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami has been touring European capitals this week to seek support for Israel's stance in peace talks with the Palestinians.

Both sides have been working towards a September 13 target date for a final resolution of their 52-year-old conflict.

Peace talks between Israel and Syria collapsed in January amid disagreement over the return of the strategic Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

JERUSALEM DEAL IN WORKS

Analyst Emad Gad said Egypt would review with Chirac a possible behind-the-scenes agreement on a complex formula of shared sovereignty over Arab East Jerusalem.

"What is happening now is preparation to pass some sort of agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis," he said.

"Mubarak's statements have started talking about al-Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount) and not all of East Jerusalem. This gives the impression that there is an underground deal between the Egyptians, Israelis and Americans -- and Arafat, of course."

The sanctuary area contains the Wailing Wall, sacred to Jews, as well as al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest spot, and the Moslem shrine known as the Dome of the Rock.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper said on Wednesday the United States had proposed dividing the site into four sections with varying formulas of sovereignty.

Israel seized East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war, and in a move never recognized internationally, calls all of the city its "united and eternal capital." Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent state.

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