By Zhao Yi

The United States and Egypt, two major players in Middle East issues who have drifted apart in recent years, pressed the reset button on their relationship in a Tuesday meeting between the two presidents.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, 81, who has ruled Egypt for 28 years, made his first visit in five years to the US capital to meet with his counterpart Barack Obama, after tensions under former US President George W. Bush..

Neither US nor Egyptian officials have disclosed details of the summit and meetings between Mubarak and US Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

But observers here believed that the three-day visit by Mubarak to Washington would be of great significance in helping settle the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts and other hot issues in the Middle East.

Restarting the stalled Middle East peace train has long been a central topic in US-Egypt summits.

The White House has prepared carefully for this meeting. Obama held a series of meetings in April and May with King Abdullah II of Jordan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mubarak's visit to Washington, originally scheduled for May 26, was canceled because of the death of his 12-year-old grandson. However their scheduled Cairo meeting was held on June 4.

The arrangement of the Obama-Mubarak meeting almost followed Bush's example. Before and after his meeting with Mubarak, Bush invited major Arab leaders to the White House.

Such a diplomatic approach has left an impression that US policy makers have attached great importance to Arab leaders' engagement in mediating between Palestine and Israel -- a pair of tough nuts in the Middle East peace process.

During his visit, Mubarak also had an opportunity to meet former US president Bill Clinton, who made a considerable effort to promote the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

However Bush, who initiated the Annapolis Conference in November 2007 in an effort to revive the peace talks and carry out a "two-state solution", was not invited to have talks with Mubarak.

Looking back, Mubarak visited Washington regularly during the Clinton administration. Then relations between the two countries soured during the Bush administration over the Iraq war and Bush's criticism of human rights in Egypt.

Mubarak's previous visits to the United States mostly occurred when the Palestinian-Israeli issue was facing a new crisis, largely resulting from terror attacks by Muslim extremists and reprisal attacks by Israeli forces.

This time, Mubarak's visit has happened at a time when the situation in the occupied Palestinian region appears to be changing from tense to relatively calm.

Regional analysts attributed the shift partly to Iran being distracted by its internal political turmoil over its disputed presidential election.

Another reason was Obama's outreach to the Muslim world, especially his historic address in Cairo in June.

"It was a very strong address and it removed all doubts about the United States and the Muslim world," Mubarak told reporters after meeting Obama at the White House.

The United States, which regards Egypt as "a country that in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world," has long maintained friendly and strategic relations with the north African country. It is generally believed that Obama's latest meeting with Mubarak has played a positive role in furthering Washington-Cairo relations.

Nonetheless, political analysts said the meeting still did not heal differences between the two powers. Such a judgement is supported by remarks by both Obama and Mubarak at the White House.

Praising Israel for the "right movement" on Jewish settlement issue, Obama said his hope was that "we are going to see not just movement from the Israelis but also from the Palestinians on incitement and security, from Arab states that show their willingness to engage Israel."

"All parties have to take steps to restart serious negotiations," he said, adding that the Palestinians must end the incitement and violence against Israel.

In contrast to Obama's remarks, Mubarak said Egypt was opposed to Israel's suggestion of a so-called "temporary solution" in the settlement of the conflict with Palestine.

"We need to move to the final status solution and level," he said when talking about the future shape of a Palestinian state. "I have contacted the Israelis... and I told them, forget about the temporary solution, forget about temporary borders."

Hossam Zaki, spokesman for Egypt's foreign ministry, told reporters before the summit that, from the Arab perspective, the best way to build confidence is to press Israel to freeze settlements, implement an economic plan to improve living in the West Bank, ease pressure on Gaza and agree to negotiate with all issues on the table, including the status of Jerusalem and refugees.

It is true that Obama has said several times the views of the Islamic world need to be heeded.

However, comparing his key words about Israel with Egypt's clear demands for Jerusalem, it's easy to see that there is still a wide gap between Obama's new Middle East policy and expectations from the Palestinians and all Arab countries.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2009)