Ahead of a key session of the Israeli Cabinet to discuss ways to keep peace talks with the Palestinians alive, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has warned that a “collapse” of the Middle East negotiations would lead to “violence and terrorism” across the world.

Mubarak, in an interview to The Journal of the Egyptian Armed Forces, said he has told several leaders, including Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, that “if the peace process collapses, violence and terrorism will erupt in the Middle East and all over the world.”

His comments came as Netanyahu planned to convene his forum of seven top ministers, septet, to discuss extending moratorium on West Bank settlement constructions by another 60 days to keep the peace talks alive.

Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians kicked off last month under the US mediation but have come to a screeching halt due to Palestinian demands to completely stop constructions in the West Bank and Israeli efforts to slow it down without ceasing it fully in order to keep the overwhelmingly right-wing coalition government intact.

Israel had unilaterally halted constructions in the West Bank for 10 months last November, which ended on 26th September, and since has been reluctant to extend the moratorium due to intensive pressure from coalition partners in Netanyahu’s government and also from within his own ruling Likud party.

The US administration has been urging Israel to reconsider the Palestinian demand amid reports of several incentives being extended to Jerusalem for making this gesture.

Netanyahu announced yesterday that he was cancelling a planned tour of the Jerusalem area in order to hold the session of his ministers today in which if he succeeds in convincing his seven top colleagues to extend the freeze, he will bring the matter to a vote in the diplomatic-security Cabinet as early as later this evening.

The Israeli Premier will try to persuade the ministers to accept the guarantees the American administration has offered Israel in exchange for extending the construction freeze.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor are expected to support Netanyahu’s position, while Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is likely to present the strongest opposition.

The Prime minister is interested in passing a decision on the matter before an Arab League committee meets in Libya on Friday to deliver its verdict on whether peace negotiations should continue.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to Netanyahu earlier this week in an effort to resolve the settlement construction deadlock.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley defined the conversation as “very constructive” but refused to go into details.

London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat yesterday quoted Israeli officials as saying that Netanyahu had agreed to extend the freeze on settlement construction by two months on conditions that no further extensions be demanded.

Speaking to Likud ministers yesterday, Netanyahu, in what may have been a reference to the Asharq al-Awsat report, said that the time was not yet ripe “for issuing statements.”

“There are a lot of reports, most of which are incorrect,” he said adding, “We can’t deny or correct everything.”

Later, he told a Cabinet meeting that he had “an interest in acting wisely and responsibly in order to advance the diplomatic process.”

Netanyahu said that Israel and the US were holding behind-the-scenes talks aimed at resolving the deadlock in parleys with the Palestinians, and that peace was a vital Israeli interest.