Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni may visit Egypt for talks on an Arab peace plan revived at a summit in Saudi Arabia in March, her Egyptian counterpart said in remarks broadcast on Saturday.
"The issue is on the table," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel when asked about reports that Livni may go to Egypt for discussions on the Arab peace plan revived in March.
A senior Israeli diplomatic source confirmed to AFP that "Livni is planning to go on an official Cairo visit on Thursday for talks on several bilateral issues, including the Saudi peace initiative."
"The Israeli situation does not permit a visit by the Egyptian (foreign) minister and the Jordanian (foreign) minister - the working team formed to go to Israel and speak to them" about the five-year-old plan relaunched at the Arab summit in Saudi Arabia, Abul Gheit said.
He was referring to the political crisis in Israel following this week's report which slammed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government over its handling of last year's Lebanon war. Abul Gheit did not give a date for Livni's proposed visit, but said it had been on the cards before the crisis erupted in Israel and "is still possible."
The plan revived at the Riyadh summit offers Israel normal relations if it withdraws from all land seized in the 1967 Middle East war, and allows for the creation of a Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees.
Israel, which rejected the plan when it was first launched at a Beirut summit in 2002, has recently said it could provide a basis for talks, provided there are amendments to the refugee issue.
The Arab League has tasked Jordan and Egypt to persuade Israel to accept the Arab peace initiative. They are the only two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with the Jewish state.
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