Japan and Egypt today said they would work together for peace in Palestine and the Middle Eastern region as a whole, according to a Japanese Foreign Ministry official. But the Japanese prime minister, Obuchi, and Egyptian Prime Minister Mubarak appeared to break little new ground on the question of the timing of a declaration of an independent Palestinian state. Obuchi said Japan supported the Palestinians’ right to decide their independence and hoped the Palestinian Central Council would meet soon, leading to an independent Palestinian state in the near future. Mubarak did not directly touch on the issue of when Palestine should declare independence. But the two leaders agreed that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appeared to understand that declaring statehood on May 4 would not be desirable.