Secretary of State Warren Christopher began a new diplomatic shuttle Wednesday in Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel but lately a source of tension with both the United States and Israel.

Slowing down his pace - Christopher was hospitalized last month with a bleeding ulcer - he took a long rest after an overnight flight from Washington and was accompanied by a physician. Talks begin Wednesday with Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. He plans to meet with Moussa and President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday.Egyptian Gazette greeted Christopher with an article saying "with full respect" for the secretary of state and his country, "he always depends his direct and indirect contacts on the ideas and visions of the Israeli party."

As a result, the article said, it is doubtful his eight-day Middle East trip will bring new developments to the peace process.

Egypt is seen by Christopher and Dennis Ross, his senior Middle East adviser, as a bridge between Israel, with which it signed a peace treaty in 1979, and the Arabs.

However, Moussa this week criticized as unworthy of Syrian consideration a recycled proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to surrender part of the strategic Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for peace gestures.

Israeli intelligence analysts are concerned by what they consider to be a newly aggressive stance taken recently by Egypt. In addition, the U.S. drive for indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has in its path a move by Egypt to line up Arab countries to resist unless Israel is forced to submit to international nuclear inspection.

The Clinton administration has avoided a confrontation with Egypt on the issue.

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