Cairo summit gathers 3 Arab leaders
Regional, Politics, 9/8/1997

Yesterday, Egyptian and Palestinian and Jordanian Presidents, Hosni Mubarak, Yasser Arafat and King Hussein, met in Cairo, 48 hours before American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit to Lebanon.

Albright's first Middle East trip is planned to start on September 9, despite the Jerusalem bombings and the death of Israeli commandos in South Lebanon during their fights with the resistance and the army. Albright did not want to embark to a Middle East in crisis.

A statement issued after the meeting acknowledged the importance of resuming the Middle East peace process on all tracks. Regardless of motives or sources, it condemned terrorism and acts of violence committed against civilians, as few Arabs and Israelis tried to obstruct peace efforts.

The statement urged Israel to refrain from actions alien to the spirit of the peace including the building of new settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and collective punishment to innocent people.

International community and Middle East peace sponsors have an important role to play in this respect, said the statement, wishing success for US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit to the region this week.

In a press conference after King Hussein and Arafat had departed Cairo, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Amr Moussa stated: "The present deterioration in the Middle East peace process does not come as a result of the recent Jerusalem blasts; rather the process has collapsed due to the Israel's settlement policy, violation of accords and bad implementation of redeployment."

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