"Egypt expressed support for the Palestinian demand that there should be a working framework covering all elements of the political settlement of the conflict which will be reviewed by the international peace conference which President George W. Bush has called for convening in Washington next November,"said Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit in press statements yesterday.

Abul-Gheit said Egypt supports the suggestion made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the need for reaching an accord on all topics to be put for discussion before the convening of the international conference.

On the participation of Syria in the conference, Minister Abul-Gheit said Egypt had stressed at Sharm el-Sheikh conference held last month that no Arab party should be excluded from the conference, adding that the U.S. side asserted at that time that nobody would be excluded.

On call by Israeli President Shimon Peres for releasing prisoners in exchange for security, the Minister said the security of whom! He said will settlement stop at this point? He expounded that the deal is much bigger.

On the Egyptian moves at the coming stage, the foreign minister said Egyptian contacts are ongoing with the U.S. side and the international quartet.

He said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would visit the region next month before the beginning of the general Assembly meetings.

He added the Egyptian moves aim at securing a full dressed agenda for the international peace conference in Washington and the participation of influential parties which could help contribute to the success of these international efforts.

He said there are no disagreements between Egypt and the United States on the conference, indicating that assistant secretary of state for the Middle East Affairs David Welch will visit the region soon.

He added that Egypt is keeping in touch with the Palestinian authority and all Palestinian parties, expounding Egypt realizes that the shock to which the Palestinian movement was exposed, was deep and needs some time to heal the wounds.

He denied reports on the return of the Egyptian security delegation to Gaza saying how can the Egyptian delegation return at the time when there is no Palestinian dialogue.