Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak presented Defense Minister Ehud Barak with a full plan to bring Syria and Israel back to the negotiating table, United Arab Emirates newspaper Al-Bayan reported Thursday morning.
Barak and Mubarak during a previous meeting at the Red Sea resort of Sharm e-Sheik.
Photo: AP
The plan, shown to the minister during their Wednesday meeting, calls for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights. The withdrawal of Israel from the Golan would be implemented over the course of 10 to 15 years after which American, Russian and Egyptian troops would be deployed, said the report.
The report also claims that Mubarak offered Egypt as a mediator between Damascus and Jerusalem so that talks could be renewed.
An earlier report quoted by Israel Radio claimed that Mubarak had conveyed to Barak a message from Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Damascus officials speaking to the pan-Arab daily Asharq Alawsat were quoted by the radio station as saying "Syria does not tend to respond to leaks of this kind."
The report, which Barak's office also refused to confirm, comes just days after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asked Republican Senator Arlen Specter, who visited Israel en route to Damascus, to "tell Assad that I await an answer from him regarding the dynamic messages I have conveyed to him in the matter of negotiations."
