Israel and Egypt held a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday as the Jewish state prepares for indirect talks with the Palestinians that could set the stalled peace process back on track.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went straight into talks with regional broker Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak after arriving in Egypt’s Red Sea resort. Their talks were to focus on the launch expected within days of US-brokered indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, a process suspended since the Gaza War from December 2008 to January last year.
Netanyahu’s visit comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity two days after the Arab League came out in support of the so-called “proximity talks.” The Israeli prime minister was accompanied in Sharm el-Sheikh by National Security Committee Chairman Uzi Arad and Industry and Trade Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer.
The indirect talks were set to start last month, but were scuttled after Israel announced it would build 1,600 new homes in an east Jerusalem settlement. The Arab League on Saturday gave its green light for the talks to go ahead after the Palestinians received US assurances that the construction would be shelved, an official of the pan-Arab organization said.
An Israeli official said Netanyahu, who insists on unconditional direct talks with the Palestinians, was to ask Mubarak to pressure Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to “go forward.”
Mubarak, a strong backer of Abbas, has supported the Palestinian demand for a complete settlement freeze in occupied Palestinian territories and east Jerusalem before direct talks can resume.
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