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Arafat arrives in Cairo

CAIRO: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat arrived in Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak expected to focus on the latest setbacks in Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, airport sources said.

Arafat, who was met by Presidential adviser Osama el-Baz, failed in a meeting on Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to narrow large gaps on the land issue at the heart of their negotiations and clear the way to meet a February 13 deadline for a framework agreement on final status talks.

The Palestinian Authority said on Friday that it was considering halting talks with Israel because it said Barak was reneging on signed peace accords with the Palestinians.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa warned on Saturday that Middle East peace efforts were in "crisis" after what he called a "serious regression" in the Palestinian-Israeli track, Egyptian news agency MENA reported.

Arafat travels frequently to Egypt to consult Mubarak on peace negotiations.-Reuters