U.S. envoy encourages Arab countries on normalization with Israel

The U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell encouraged Arab countries to normalize their relationship with Israel after his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Monday in Cairo, Xinhua reported.
  
"We are meeting with the leaders of many Arab nations in the region to encourage them to take genuine steps towards normalization," Mitchell said in a press conference after his meeting with Mubarak aiming at reviving peace process in the Middle East.
  
"We're not asking anyone to achieve full normalization at this time, we recognize that will come further down the road in this process," Mitchell added.
  
It is the fifth visit for Mitchell to Egypt in the frame of the Egyptian-American efforts to revive Middle East peace process.
  
Media reports said that Mitchell's surprise visit to Cairo is at the request of the Egyptian president.
  
"We believe that a full comprehensive peace represents the best way to help all the people in the region achieve security, peace and prospect of prosperity for individual citizens that all deserve it," Mitchell said at the press conference.
  
Egypt has been exerting intensified efforts to push the Middle East peace process as it hosted several rounds of reconciliation negotiations between the Palestinian rivals.
  
Mitchell's visit to Egypt came after his visits to Syria and Israel, in which he met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
  
Mitchell's tour will also include a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.