CAIRO, August 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A series of meetings have been held in Cairo Monday, August 11 with U.S., Saudi and Syrian officials, as Egypt seeks to forge a common Arab policy on Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher called for an "active UN role" to help the Iraqi people "assume total responsibility and exercise its sovereignty", according to Agence France Presse (AFP).

He also called for a stronger U.S. role in implementing the so-called "roadmap" for peace in the Middle East, after talks with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs William Burns.

Maher also held talks with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Prince Saud al-Faisal, and Syria, Faruq al-Shara. The three states agree on the need to revive Arab action.

Earlier Monday, highly informed Arab diplomatic sources told IslamOnline.net that the three-way meeting focused on reaching a “unified Arab agenda on the possible role Arabs can play in Iraq, in addition to discussing possible ways of pressuring Israel to implement the so-called roadmap for peace”.

The Arab foreign ministers, according to the same sources, were to embark on tackling a host of issues - “real and imaginary” - as far as the Iraqi file was concerned.

These problems varied from founding and training a real Iraqi police force to provide security for the Iraqis, contributing to the process of adopting a new constitution, to attempts to end the suffering of the Iraqis as fast as possible, the sources revealed.

The Egyptian-Saudi-Syrian meeting comes after the UN special representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, briefed Cairo last week on developments in the war-battered country.

The UN official urged Maher and Arab League chief Amr Mussa to support the Governing Council as a transitional body until a new government is formed following nationwide elections which could be held next year.

Following his meeting with Maher, Burns repeated that Iraq's U.S.-backed Governing Council should be recognized by Arab capitals as a necessary tool in the transition to a fully sovereign government and urged greater Arab investment in the crippled post-war economy.

"It’s deeply in the interests of our friends in the region, especially Egypt, to encourage the emergence of a stable, prosperous, secure Iraq," he said.

Washington had expressed disappointment at the lack of support given to the council at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers held last week in Cairo, where the Arab League is based.

Burns also reiterated Washington's "determination" to pursue implementation of the roadmap, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005, and also to work towards restoring Iraq's sovereignty.

But he cautioned the roadmap was a "difficult process", and reiterated US concern about a resurgence of tension on Israel's northern border following two separate attacks by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah last week.

And in a rare break with the Jewish state, the U.S. administration has voiced concern that a security barrier which Israel is building across the West Bank could complicate negotiations on the borders of a future independent Palestine.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said Washington is considering whether to penalize Israel for construction of the barrier by withholding some of nine billion dollars in loan guarantees for the Jewish state.

The Palestinians regard the barrier as a bid by Israel to pre-empt the boundaries of any settlement.

Burns, who arrived in Cairo Sunday after a visit to Iraq, also met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.