Sharm el-Sheikh summit starts with two meetings
Egypt-Regional, Politics, 2/5/2005

Amidst massive world welcome, the four way Sharm el- Sheikh summit among President Mubarak, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon starts next Tuesday.

A high level official source described President Hosni Mubarak's initiative to call for a quadrilateral summit in Sharm el-Sheikh as the onset of a long-term plan that aims at removing obstacles and launch a new language of dialogue and understanding.

The source said that President Mubarak wanted the Sharm el-Sheikh summit to move within the regional, not bilateral, framework, and that was why he extended an invitation to King Abdullah II of Jordan to attend the summit.

Foreign minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit will carry a message Sunday from President Mubarak to President Bashar al-Assad to brief the Syrian leader on his vision for a peace plan that would encompass al tracks.

Revealing the steps that preceded the initiative, the source told MENA that the president has first offered his vision for the conference during his meeting with Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in Cairo before Mubarak headed for Nigeria to attend the Abuja summit.

The President had to phone contacts with King Abdullah II and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The Jordanian monarch welcomed the idea and said that he was ready to take part, but Sharon, who approved on principle, said he would like to discuss more details in this respect.

Minister Omar Solaiman, the president's special envoy, headed for Tel Aviv and discussed with Sharon all aspects and guarantees for implementation in a way that makes it possible to carryon with the dialogue and orientation towards peace.

The source also said that the Egyptian initiative rested on three axes, the first is Egypt's shouldering of historical and ethical responsibilities towards the Palestinian people with a view to establishing an independent state on the borders of 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital in addition to a just solution to the issue of refugees.

The second point is deepening the culture of peace for all parties, particularly the hard-liners, through dialogue. The third is stressing that Egypt is already the gate leading to a solution in the Middle East region.

The source told MENA political editor that the regional summit's agenda will start on Tuesday in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el- Sheikh as King Abdullah II of Jordan will be the first to arrive, to be followed by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The summit will be held on two parallel levels: the first of the four leaders and their assistants and the second of a Palestinian-Israeli task force to undertake preparing the final statement to be issued by the Sharm el- Sheikh summit.

After the four leaders end their talks, they will emerge to the world press for statements on the outcome, said the source.

Sharon was the only Israeli Prime Minister that was not invited to Egypt despite the elapse of four years since he first came to power, the source added. He noted all his predecessors starting from Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak have been invited more than once to visit Egypt.

After all, the invitation of Sharon to this regional summit is to build confidence and to affirm that Egypt is not adopting a personal attitude towards somebody, but rather makes endeavors towards peace, he said.

Ariel Sharon's participation, the source added, came to deepen good intentions and replace fear with trust especially that Israel is a key party in the conflict. This participation and a dialogue that stands on confidence would create a mechanism helping build an atmosphere of peace and good relations among all parties in the region, the source said.

The source told MENA political editor that President Mubarak's message to Sharon that he received on Wednesday focused on the necessity of replacing the present atmosphere of fear and apprehension with an atmosphere based on confidence supported by actual steps on the ground.

New chairman of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas is in need of support and also needs to present "something tangible" to his people, the source added.

Abbas's initial demands for confidence-building have concentrated on some points mainly mutual ceasefire, Palestinian prisoners' release, solution to the deportees problem, withdrawal from Palestinian cities according to plans agreed upon by the Palestinian and Israeli sides, return to the situation before September 28, 2000 as a first phase, the source told MENA.

As regards the Palestinian prisoners' release, the source said that Sharon has immediately expressed readiness to free 900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Regarding a call on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian territories to positions before September 2000, he said Gaza withdrawal would be completed by September 2005.

The source said that Sharon asked Egyptian presidential envoy Omar Soliman several questions on the Egyptian plan and the Palestinian commitment. He also proposed to postpone the meeting until Thursday and that it will be preceded by a bilateral meeting in Jerusalem, the source said.

The Egyptian reply was that it would be better that Sharon- Abbas meeting would take place within a regional framework and in the presence of President Mubarak and King Abdullah on Tuesday as scheduled.

Sharon agreed on mutual ceasefire, release of numbers of prisoners and discussing the status of the deportees in the light of talks between former Palestinian Security Advisor Mohammad Dahlan and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Sharon said that would be presented to Abbas during Sharm el-Sheikh summit.

Sharon told Minister Solaiman that he agreed on the date set by President Mubarak that the meeting be held on Tuesday as he could never turn down an invitation by Mubarak.

Sharon added that he would send his office's chief of staff to Cairo on Sunday to discuss all arrangements.

On February 10 Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom will sign a memo of understanding by virtue of which the Egyptian police force on the Palestinian-Israeli-Egyptian borders will be replaced by two border guard units, the high-level source said in his statements 'to MENA.

If things went as expected in Sharm el-Sheikh and the peace atmosphere continued to prevail, Cairo would name its new ambassador in Tel Aviv.

The ambassador would at a larger state leave to take up his new post.

The source disclosed that dialogue between the Egyptian presidential envoy and Sharon was good and the Israeli premier underlined assassinations of Palestinian leaders' hips and pursuit of the so-called "wanted" will cease.

The Israeli premier said that he would give his instructions to the different bodies not to react to any operations that might take place except after going back to him, the source said.

Sharon said that he will also instruct his security services to abstain from any preemptive operations against the Palestinians, the source said.

Egypt works with all parties to rebuild and promote the Palestinian security apparatus and the administrative and technical bodies of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the high- level official source told MENA.

Training of security men and administrative staff in addition to building headquarters and other facilities necessary for the PA are in full swing, he added.

A major part of training Palestinian security men is being made in Egypt and a number of Egyptian security experts have already headed for Gaza for the same purpose, the source said.

He expected a new spirit to prevail after the Sharm el- Sheikh summit, in light of the adopted and under way measures to enhance confidence between Israel on the one hand and each of Egypt, Palestine and Jordan on the other.
The Egyptian plan does not seek just bilateral actions between the Palestinians and the Israelis, but aims at achieving security for the entire region and a just settlement on all tracks, the source concluded.

Previous Stories:
  Mubarak and 53 African leaders discuss African problems in Abuja tomorrow   (1/29/2005)
  Abul Gheit: Cooperation between Egypt, African continent political decision   (1/28/2005)
  Abu Zeid: New Nile water agreement cancels quotas   (1/25/2005)

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