TOUGH TALK: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres, left, at a joint press conference in Cairo on Sunday. (EPA)

CAIRO: Israeli President Shimon Peres met Sunday in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak who said that the peace process in the region required the Zionist state to cease settlement construction in the West Bank.

“We need first to stop settlements in the occupied territories including East Jerusalem,” Mubarak said at a joint press conference with Peres, after a closed-door meeting between the two leaders.

Mubarak said talks between Israel and the Palestinians should pick up where they last left off so that an agreement could be reached “that ends the Palestinians’ suffering” and allows them to establish a state based on the borders of 1967.

Peres said his country was seeking a solution that would satisfy both sides to the decades-old conflict. He called the settlements a “marginal issue,” saying once Israel and the Palestinians restarted negotiations again, the building in the West Bank would stop.

“Unfortunately, it’s a marginal issue, it is some building of houses that became a central issue for the wrong reasons. My answer is even this issue can be settled by negotiations and agreement,” Peres said.

“The minute we shall start to negotiate there won’t be new settlements, there won’t be confiscation of land,” he said.

B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, said Sunday some 490,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas occupied after the 1967 Middle East war.

Talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down after the war in the Gaza Strip last December and January. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he would not renew negotiations with Israel unless it agreed to freeze settlement expansion.

He has urged Washington to do more. US President Barack Obama has said Israel’s approval of new construction was “very dangerous” because it would fuel Palestinian anger and threatened peace. But he has backed Israel’s position that stopping should not be a condition for talks.

The trip by the Israeli leader came a day after Mubarak lashed out at Israel, saying it was blocking the Middle East peace process.

“Israel is destroying the opportunity for peace,” Mubarak told Parliament on Saturday.

“I call on the leaders of Israel — stop your actions in the West Bank and remove the blockade of the (Gaza) Strip. Enough with your stubbornness and manipulations — accept the calls for peace.”

Mubarak said it was time for a brave move for peace from the Israeli leadership. “I say peace is still possible. The need is growing for the political will from Israel’s side that is conscious of the regional situation and realizes the dangers of losing the peace opportunity and that it take courageous decisions needed,” he said.