"The Israelis should also respond to all the efforts to reach a peaceful settlement," Mubarak told Israeli reporters, quoted by the official MENA news agency.

"Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon does not have any peace plan. As long as the Israeli government does not come up with any peace plan, there is no hope to reach peace," Mubarak said.

On another occasion, visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told a press conference after his meeting with Mubarak earlier in the day that Israel expects Egypt to help sort out differences between Israel and the Palestinians to push forward the Mideast peace process.

It is impossible for Israel and the Palestinians to overcome the current stalemate without Egypt's help and intervention, Peres said.

Peres arrived here earlier in the day for a short visit to Egypt, the first in more than a year.

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

Peres is the fourth member from the Israeli Labor Party to visit Egypt in a month.

Mubarak has repeatedly said there will be no peace if Sharon is still in power.

(People's Daily August 6, 2002)