CAIRO, January 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said he had criticized Israel's policy of force in dealing with the Palestinians during a meeting in Cairo Wednesday, January 8, with an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

He also denied, in remarks published on the same day, that Egypt tried to convince Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to step down.

"There are differences between the points of view of Egypt and Israel; this appeared clearly during the discussions with the Israeli official," Ephraim Halevy, Maher told reporters after the meeting, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

But he said the meeting with Halevy, who heads Israel's National Security Council, "was useful because it allowed Egypt to express its viewpoint that Israel's policy of force had failed."

Maher said he had "stressed that this policy should be stopped because its only result were more victims on both sides, Palestinians and Israelis".

He urged Israel to "move in the direction of serious negotiations with the representatives of the Palestinian people ... in order to reach a final settlement based on two states, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace and security."

Israel has no say in inter-Palestinian matter: Maher

Maher said the meeting, attended by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's top advisor, Osama al-Baz, did not deal with inter-Palestinian talks to be hosted by Egypt that include discussing a truce in violence.

"That's an inter-Palestinian matter; Israel has no say in it," he said.

Talks are expected to kick off soon between Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah movement and the Gaza Strip-based Islamic resistance group Hamas.

Halevy commented broadly on the meeting, which he said dealt with "many areas of common interest". He said he "discussed all the subjects the prime minister (Sharon) asked me to discuss."

He refused to comment on talks Sunday between Maher and the head of Israel's leftist opposition Meretz party, Yossi Sarid, and former Labor justice minister Yossi Beilin who joined Meretz at the end of last year.

"I prefer not to comment on specifics; I think it won't be useful and it won't be a service to relations between the two countries which I think are important to both sides," said Halevy.

Egypt can’t prevent war, is not trying to convince Saddam to step down

Concerning the Iraqi crisis, Maher said in remarks published Wednesday that Egypt was not working to convince Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to step down.

"The reports on this issue are completely false. We do not interfere in the affairs of other states, and we do not interfere in the choice of the president of a country, it is for the Iraqi people to decide this," Maher told Al-Mussawar daily newspaper, AFP reported.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday, January 6, he hoped Saddam would step down or surrender weapons of mass destruction, while maintaining that a U.S.-led war against Iraq was not inevitable.

No one can prevent U.S. from striking Iraq but Egypt is still against war

"If America decided to strike Iraq tomorrow, no one can prevent it, but we are trying to reduce the chances and the pretexts America would use to attack Iraq," Maher added.

Maher ruled out Egypt granting facilities to countries taking part in a possible war against Iraq, but urged Iraq to cooperate with Arab countries.

"We are opposed to a strike against Iraq, but Iraq must for its part demonstrate cooperation," he said, stressing he meant "cooperation with Arab countries," and not UN weapons inspectors.

"It is strange that at a time that Arab countries are trying to prevent a strike against Iraq, it threatens the Arab countries in a speech addressed to Kuwait."

In a December 7 statement, Saddam apologized for the first time for Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait but then accused the Gulf Arab states of plotting with the United States against Iraq.

On Saturday, January 4, Maher distanced Egypt from reports that Cairo has been asked to provide asylum to Saddam to prevent the outbreak of a war.