Israel Regains Egypt’s Aid in Peace Process as Leaders Renew Friendship : Mideast: Spat over nuclear pact had cooled relations. Cairo to help in Syria, PLO talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak patched up half a year of festering animosity Friday, putting back on track the longest-running Arab-Israeli relationship and enlisting Mubarak for renewed support of Israel’s peace talks with Syria and other Arabs.

Mubarak described the talks as “very positive,” and Rabin hailed “a very good atmosphere” in their meeting, which allowed them to air disputes that started after Egypt embarrassed Israel with a diplomatic assault on the Jewish state’s refusal to sign an international treaty banning the spread of nuclear weapons.

Rabin and Mubarak met alone for a little more than an hour in the Egyptian presidential palace, then were joined by U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher for 40 minutes more.

“I say that whenever there are problems in the [relationship], I think it is better to meet face-to-face and discuss [it] with each other,” Mubarak told a news conference with Rabin and Christopher at his side.

U.S. officials said the primary focus of Friday’s session was regaining unstinting Egyptian support for Israel’s separate negotiations with Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The officials said the talks achieved that objective, though Mubarak stopped short of any sort of dramatic gesture toward Israeli public opinion. The Egyptian president brushed aside suggestions that he should visit Jerusalem, saying he may go sometime--but not now.

Addressing himself directly to Mubarak in the news conference, Rabin said: “We appreciate very much your efforts, your assistance in advancing the peace process in the whole region.”

A senior U.S. official said later that Egypt, as the “most important Arab country,” could be influential both with Syria and the PLO.

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Although Egypt has always paid lip service to peace between Israel and other Arabs, the official said Washington wanted to ensure that Cairo will not remain on the sidelines in crucial phases of the negotiations.

Another official said the Israeli-Egyptian friction has dampened overall peace prospects, and, “if the relationship had continued to deteriorate, it obviously would have had an effect” on other negotiations.

Israel and the PLO agreed earlier this year to complete by July 1 an accord setting details of Palestinian self-rule throughout the West Bank, extending the reach of the Palestinian Authority, which now has jurisdiction only in the impoverished Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.

PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, supported by Egyptian officials, maintains that the date is a deadline that will test Israel’s sincerity. But Rabin and other Israeli officials insist that July 1 is just a target date, which they will try to meet but may not be able to.

“We set as a target date the first of July, and we will do on our part the most serious effort to meet this date,” Rabin said. “There are some problems, but there is no doubt in my mind that we have crossed the point of no return” in establishment of Palestinian self-government.

But he added that it was more important to get the details right than to complete the work on time.

“Let’s not look at it with a stopwatch but with a historic perspective,” he said.

Earlier this week, Mubarak said, “We’re afraid of delays and their repercussions” should Israel and the PLO fail to meet the July 1 date. But as an apparent dividend of the meeting they had just completed, Mubarak did not criticize Rabin on Friday for suggesting the negotiations may slop over into July.

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Mubarak also expressed confidence that Syrian President Hafez Assad “is willing to reach agreement” with Israel. But Mubarak, who met Assad in Damascus on June 1, said he knew none of the details of Syria’s negotiating strategy.

“President Assad this time is much more relaxed, much more willing to go through the process for one reason or another, maybe because of some feelings that there is a good response from the Israeli side,” Mubarak said.

Christopher visits Damascus today to continue his role as go-between in the complex Israeli-Syrian negotiations. Christopher’s party was clearly delighted with the outcome of the Rabin-Mubarak meeting, which one official said restored a friendly personal relationship between the two leaders.

The chill in Israeli-Egyptian relations started early this year when Egypt led a noisy diplomatic effort to block permanent renewal of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty unless Israel agreed to join. Israel is widely believed to have a nuclear weapons capability, which it refuses to submit to international inspection.

Although the treaty was extended indefinitely, the Egyptian campaign underlined Israel’s nuclear program and embarrassed its government.

At Friday’s news conference, Mubarak ducked a chance to renew the criticism. Asked if the nuclear issue came up in the talks, Mubarak said: “Such an issue is not to be discussed with the press. We may have tackled it, but it is not for the press.”

Although Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979, relations have never been warm. Few Egyptian tourists visit Israel, although for a time Israelis flocked to Egypt. Nevertheless, the two governments have usually cooperated.

On Friday, Mubarak summed up the refurbished relationship: “There is no problem between us and Israel. . . . Any two countries in the world could have clouds over their relationship. . . . It is only a misunderstanding between two countries--no coldness--and the problem will be settled.”

Times staff writer Craig Turner in Cairo contributed to this report.