Netanyahu-Mubarak talks postponed again

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting in Egypt with President Hosni Mubarak has been postponed for a second time and will take place on Sunday, an Israeli official said on Tuesday.

Egypt said the meeting with Mubarak, who had surgery in March, had been delayed but did not say why.

Palestinian officials said a Mubarak, 82, who attended military parades in public in the past week, had been due to hold separate talks with President Mahmoud Abbas this week. That meeting was also pushed back to the weekend.

Abbas had been due in Egypt on Thursday, but the trip would be delayed until after he had met a U.S. Middle East envoy due in Ramallah later this week, the Palestinians said.

Egypt, a U.S. ally that made peace with Israel three decades ago, has traditionally played a central role in Middle East peace-making efforts.

The United States wants Netanyahu and Abbas to begin face-to-face peace talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel on land it has occupied since 1967.

The sides are currently engaged in indirect talks being mediated by Senator George Mitchell, the U.S. Middle East envoy.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters Abbas would travel to Egypt on Saturday after meeting Mitchell.

The Palestinian representative of the Arab League, Barakat al-Farra, said Abbas would meet Mubarak on Sunday as well, the official Middle East News Agency reported.

The Palestinian leadership, facing heavy domestic criticism over the failure of past negotiations, is wary of agreeing to more direct talks with Netanyahu, who says he is ready to negotiate with the Palestinians right away.

Abbas has said that, before any move to direct talks, the indirect negotiations must make progress on the issues of the borders of the future Palestinian state and security arrangements.

Netanyahu originally announced he would meet Mubarak in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss efforts to restart direct peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The session was subsequently reset for Wednesday, and its location moved to Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, due to what Israel said were changes in Mubarak's schedule.

The official cited "logistical reasons" for the further delay, to July 18, without elaborating.

An Egyptian statement said the meeting had been postponed to a "later date" but did not say when it might now be held.

Egypt was the first of two Arab states to sign peace treaties with the Jewish state, and Mubarak has been active in helping to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians.

(Additional reporting by Cairo bureau, writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Tom Perry; Editing by Maria Golovnina)