Palestinian Hamas-led cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad denied on Sunday reports saying that Egypt had urged the government to recognize the roadmap peace plan.

"No one has asked us recognizing the roadmap," Hamad told reporters, adding that "the cabinet decided to pursue the Arab peace initiative because it acquired consensus from all Arab countries, then our cabinet would decide its stance."

Earlier reports said that Egypt asked the Hamas government to make its attitude clear regarding the roadmap ahead of a meeting of the Quartet, which backs the road map and has been a long-time mediator in the Middle East conflict.

The key players of the Quartet, the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, will meet on May 9 in New York on future prospective for peace in the region after Hamas took office in late March.

The roadmap, which was put forward in 2003, outlines a two- state solution to the decade-long conflict, calling for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel on the bases of reciprocal negotiations.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Saturday that the roadmap should be amended as it had expired in 2005, the official MENA news agency reported.

"The roadmap needs to be modified because its expiry date was last year in 2005," Abul Gheit said on the sidelines of an international forum on dialogue among civilizations and cultures held in Egypt's Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

He expressed hope that the upcoming New York meeting would help activate the roadmap plan and resume the stalled peace talks.

Abul Gheit, however, didn't say how the roadmap plan should be revised.

As a close ally of the United States, Egypt is one of the only two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel and has long played the mediating role between the Palestinians and Israel.

Source: Xinhua