WASHINGTON-Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, will press President Bush this weekend to spell out the terms and timetable of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement and to resist Israeli attempts to dominate the U.S. agenda on the Middle East, one of Mubarak's top aides said yesterday.

Mubarak's arrival here yesterday signals a more confrontational phase in Bush's push to end more than 22 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence, as Israelis and Arabs begin to face the need for concessions and compromise.

Mubarak, who will join Bush at Camp David on Friday and Saturday, will urge Bush to steer Israelis and Palestinians on a clear path toward a settlement, even if it means butting heads with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his supporters in Washington, according to the aide, Nabil Osman, who warned that "the Middle East is at the edge of an abyss."

Sharon, who has publicly opposed negotiating a settlement while Yasser Arafat remains in charge of the Palestinian Authority, will meet with Bush on Monday in an effort to counter what the Israeli government views as a buildup of Arab pressure on the Bush administration.

Criticizing Sharon, Osman said the Israeli leader had sought to convince Americans that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was solely about terrorism, a view that he said obscured the political causes of the conflict.

Meanwhile, he said, Sharon was attempting to weaken Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority and turn the occupied territories into cantons, leaving Palestinians in charge of disconnected population centers.

"The issue is not Arafat. The whole [Palestinian] nation is in captivity," he said.

Mubarak's message is similar to demands made previously by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and Jordan's King Abdullah II for the United States to assume a more forceful role in mediating between Israel and the Palestinians. But if Osman's words are any guide, the Egyptian leader will deliver it with undiplomatic bluntness.

Osman said Israel's April offensive in the Palestinian territories "planted hatred in 300 million Arabs" and gave rise to extremism on both sides of the conflict. He said he had shown Mubarak a document describing Israeli "atrocities."

U.S. role sought

He said what is perceived as anti-American sentiment in the Arab world is actually a demand by Arabs for the United States to assume a stronger role in ending the conflict.

"Especially during the incursions, there was much talk about 'Withdrawal immediately, withdrawal now,' and then Sharon gave America the lie," Osman said. After Bush spoke of a "vision" of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace, Sharon contradicted him "in the Oval Office," saying it was premature to talk about a Palestinian state.

"So it's time for the American administration to muster its imagination, its energy, consult with everyone alike and come up with a unified vision," Osman said, one that meets the needs of "both parties."

"The United States has to bring pressure to bear on both sides. The aim is not to pressure one side and ignore the other side," Osman said.

He said the Bush administration should come up with a "framework" and timetable for a peace agreement that should then be endorsed by an international conference that includes Arabs and Israelis. A final agreement should be reached in 2004, he said.

Steps along the way should include reform of the Palestinian Authority, formation of a Palestinian state, Israeli withdrawal to the lines it occupied before the start of the Palestinian uprising in late September 2000, and Palestinian elections.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that after Bush listens to what Mubarak and other Middle East leaders have to say, the president will "determine if there's any additional actions the United States government needs to or should potentially take." Osman, in his meeting with reporters, said an Israeli pullback was a necessary prelude to Palestinian elections, asking how a vote could be held if Israeli troops are "besieging Palestinian towns."

Administration officials have said they plan to prepare broad proposals that outline what is needed for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, including ways of settling the explosive issues of the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees and arriving at borders for the two states.

However, officials say they are undecided about whether to produce a timetable for reaching agreement.

Dispute over conference

There is also a split between Mubarak and the Bush administration on the role of an international conference. U.S. officials describe it as a kind of forum where ideas will be shared. But Osman said it should be the occasion to endorse "a well-defined framework" and a "timetable for negotiations."

Preparing for such a conference might take several months, Osman said. State Department officials have spoken of holding a conference by mid-July, possibly in Istanbul, Turkey.

Alluding to Israel, Osman said, "Let's not give anyone the chance to set the agenda [or say] who would participate."

Mubarak's two-day meeting with Bush at the presidential retreat offers him a chance to reclaim Egypt's past role as America's top Arab ally in Middle East diplomacy, a role that has been eclipsed in recent months by Crown Prince Abdullah.

But Bush is likely to demand, in return, that Mubarak step up pressure on Arafat to undertake serious reform of the Palestinian Authority and crack down on terrorism directed at Israelis.

An Israeli official in Washington said officials in Sharon's office believe that in the wake of the administration's consultations with Arab leaders, now is the time for Sharon to weigh in and "raise our ideas at the highest levels and not just leave it to Mubarak and [Crown Prince] Abdullah."

"For us, it's life and death," the official said.

The official avoided direct criticism of Egypt, while saying it could "play a more positive role" by upgrading diplomatic relations, establishing normal ties between Egyptians and Israelis and having Mubarak visit Israel.

But the Israeli official said he found Mubarak's approach to a peace initiative, as described in a New York Times interview published yesterday, "interesting." Mubarak proposed establishing a Palestinian state before Israelis and Palestinians negotiate the major "final status" issues. "We'll see what develops," the official said.