CAIRO, July 8 (Xinhuanet) -- There is still a hope that an Egyptian offer to help the Palestinians underpin security in the Gaza Strip after a proposed Israeli withdrawal could succeed, visiting US Mideast envoy David Satterfield said on Thursday.

    Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's political advisor, Osama al-Baz, Satterfield said that there was a chance to render the Egyptian efforts a success despite difficulties.

    Satterfield's remarks came a day after Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath revealed that Egypt has refused to send experts to the Gaza Strip following the pullback due to Israel's continued aggression.

    Speaking to reporters at the end of his visit to Egypt on Wednesday, Shaath said Egypt held that it was unable to send security experts to Gaza at a time when Israel was still pursuing the policy of killing against the Palestinians.

    The US official urged the Palestinians to reform political and security systems, while demanding that Israel fulfill its responsibility set out in the roadmap peace plan envisioning a full Palestinian state by 2005.

    He said that the proposed Israeli withdrawal should be part of US President George W. Bush's two-state vision, and the United States was determined to try its best to break the deadlock in the Mideast peace process.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip and four other isolated enclaves in the northern West Bank by the end of next year and withdraw troops.

    Fearing that post-pullback vacuum could lead to chaos in the Gaza Strip, Egypt has offered to send 150 to 200 officers and security experts on a six-month mission to help train a 30,000-strong Palestinian security force.

    It has also voiced its willingness to increase the number of its troops on the border with the Palestinian territory. Enditem