Israel told to stop judaising Jerusalem

CAIRO/JERUSALEM (AFP/Reuters) - Egypts President Hosni Mubarak urged Israel to halt all settlement activity and warned of the dangers it posed in Jerusalem, in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Cairo on Sunday, as efforts to kick-start the Middle East peace process intensified ahead of the UN General Assembly.
Mubarak called on Israel to stop all settlement activity, including 'natural growth settlements, presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said after the talks between Mubarak and Netanyahu.
The President also urged (Israel) to stop attempts to judaise Jerusalem, warning of the dangerous consequences to peace efforts and highlighting the sensitivity of the Jerusalem issue to the Arab and Islamic worlds, Awad said.
Netanyahu met Mubarak over iftar that was also attended by Egypts intelligence supremo Omar Suleiman.
The Israeli premiers brief visit came amid a renewal of diplomatic activity around the Irsaeli-Palestinian peace process and coincided with a visit to the region by US envoy George Mitchell.
Earlier, Israeli Premier Netanyahu said there were still gaps to bridge as efforts to kick-start the Middle East peace process intensified ahead of the UN General Assembly.
I hope that we will succeed in reducing the gaps, the Israeli Premier said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.
Maybe we will bridge them, so that we can move the process forward.
US envoy George Mitchell said he hoped to wrap up an agreement over the next few days in talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on a settlement freeze and a revival of peace negotiations.
While we have not yet reached agreement on many outstanding issues, we are working hard to do so, and indeed the purpose of my visits here this week is to attempt to do so, Mitchell said with Israeli President Shimon Peres at his side.
Peres, meeting Mitchell just hours after being discharged from hospital after a fainting scare, said, There is an urgency to resume negotiations before the end of this month.
I think that the time is really right to do so, he said.
Mitchell will meet Netanyahu on Monday (today) and Abbas on Tuesday (tomorrow). It was not clear whether he would visit other countries in the region.
The United States hopes an agreement on the settlement issue would pave the way for a meeting involving Netanyahu, Abbas and US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly around Sept 23.