AL QUDS, Feb 2: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Egypt next week, the first summit between the two sides in four years of armed conflict, officials said on Wednesday.
The talks, to be joined by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah, would aim to solidify a shaky new de facto cease fire by setting in motion a peace process based on a US-backed "roadmap" to a Palestinian state.
Ariel Sharon, who refused to meet Mr Abbas's late predecessor Yasser Arafat, and the Palestinian leader accepted invitations from President Mubarak to meet at Sharm El Sheikh, a resort on the Red Sea, on Feb 8.
Mr Mubarak's office said it was time for a summit "in light of the delicacy of the stage the peace process is going through and in an endeavour to seize the auspicious opportunity to achieve tangible progress on the Palestinian track".
Egypt and Jordan signed peace deals with Israel in 1979 and 1994 respectively, the only Arab states to do so, and have acted as intermediaries during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A senior Israeli official said Mr Sharon would be looking at the summit for Palestinian commitments to "prevent terrorism" by dissolving militant groups. Persuading them to observe a truce was not enough to launch roadmap talks, he said.
"They want to move fast on political issues but we will accept no leapfrogging over security commitments written into the first phase of the roadmap," he said. -Reuters
