Peres' visit to Egypt comes at a time when the Palestinian-Israeli violence has been mounting recently.

Earlier in the day, a Palestinian suicide bombing on an Israeli bus near the city of Safad in northern Israel killed nine Israelis and wounded about 50 in Jerusalem.

The attack was in response to recent Israeli air raid in the Gaza City and its sweeping military offensives in Palestinian towns in the West Bank.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told reporters on Saturday that during the meeting, Mubarak will suggest to Peres steps that Israel should take to achieve peace and security for both the Palestinians and Israelis to achieve a political settlement.

"What is required is not to calm down the current tensions in the region, but to end an Israeli aggression against the Palestinians and get Israeli troops out of the Palestinian areas they have occupied," Maher said.

He said Egypt will continue contacts with Israel as it believes that such contacts could serve the Palestinians' cause, adding Peres, a key member of the left-wing Israeli Labor Party, will visit Egypt within the context.

Egypt has recently strengthened contacts with the Labor Party, a move that some analysts term as an effort to outflank Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

On July 15, Mubarak met with Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, head of the Labor Party, at Egypt's Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.

Four days before, Mubarak's political advisor Osama al-Baz also met with Israeli Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh, a Labor Party member.

Sneh's visit followed a short visit to Cairo by Israeli Knesset (parliament) Speaker Avraham Burg, a key member of the Labor Party.

Egypt, the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, has been playing a key mediating role in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflicts.

(People's Daily August 5, 2002)