Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is to go to Egypt today for talks with President Hosni Mubarak ahead of a Middle East peace conference in the United States.
Israel, the Palestinians and the United States are seeking broad Arab participation at the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, next Monday and Tuesday.
Arab League foreign ministers meet in Cairo on Friday to decide whether to attend. Saudi Arabia, which has not said whether it will take part in the US conference, has demanded a "freeze of settlements" before the conference convenes.
Yesterday Mr Olmert sought wide Arab support for the peace conference by agreeing to release 441 Palestinian prisoners and reaffirming a pledge not to build new Jewish settlements.
But Mr Olmert, speaking before a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, did not say whether he would agree to US and Palestinian demands to halt all construction in existing settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat described Mr Olmert's comments as "nonsense" unless they included halting new building in established settlements.
Nonetheless, both sides said negotiators resumed talks on a joint document on how they might resume talks after the Maryland meeting.