The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, yesterday insisted he was ready to implement the Wye River peace accord with the Palestinians whether they reject his proposals to change it or not.
Mr Barak's idea of delaying a pull-back of Israeli troops from parts of the West Bank was a point of disagreement in his talks with the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, on Tuesday.
Yesterday Mr Barak met President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in Alexandria to discuss the idea and ways to advance peace with other Arab countries.
Mr Mubarak told their joint news conference: "I think Barak is intent on implementing the agreement and he has not said `I will change the agreement', but that he will implement it . . It might be delayed two or three weeks, it's no problem. . .
"The negotiations for the final settlement could begin any time after starting the implementation of agreements. There is no problem at all."
Mr Barak had asked Mr Arafat to accept a delay in pullbacks while speeding up talks on a final treaty. But leading Palestinians said Mr Barak's request that Mr Arafat take two weeks to consider changing the accord was a waste of time.
". . . I am committed to Wye, we are going to implement Wye," Mr Barak said in Alexandria. He said Israel would modify the accord only if Mr Arafat agreed. "If not, we will continue.
"But once again we, the leaders, are going to be responsible if we choose a kind of bumpy road. . . If we choose the main road we will move smoothly," he said.
Mr Barak has said delaying land transfers under the Wye deal will reduce potential points of friction as the sides strive to negotiate a definitive end to their conflict. But the Palestinians are eager to see progress and to gain control of more West Bank territory.
The talks were the second between Mr Mubarak and Mr Barak since Mr Barak won an election in May on a platform of making peace with Israel's neighbours.
Asked about the prospect of reopening talks with Syria, Mr Barak replied: "We are determined to leave no stone unturned on the road to peace and in order to make Israel more secure we suggest to open [talks] on all tracks, without any preference or priority."
He said the United States had played a major role in trying to broker peace, but that Israel wanted to deal directly with its Arab neighbours.
He described peace efforts in terms of constructing a bridge: "It should be first of all negotiated by the two sides that sit on two sides of the gap and have to build the bridge in order to use it."
He described any agreement with the Syrians and Palestinians as a "keystone" without which there was no comprehensive peace.
Mr Barak said he would visit Russia next week to update officials there on peace efforts.
Mr Arafat's senior adviser, Mr Nabil Abu Rdainah, in a reaction to the Mubarak-Barak meeting, said: "We welcome the efforts of President Mubarak but we ask Ehud Barak to implement the Wye River agreement without any delay or amendment."
Lieut Gen Ali Asslan, Syria's Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, said in an interview published yesterday that Mr Barak should accept full withdrawal from the Golan Heights.