Israeli, Palestinian leaders set for first summit in four years

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders were set for their first summit in more than four years after Ariel Sharon and Mahmud Abbas accepted an Egyptian invitation for talks on the shores of the Red Sea next week. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II will also attend the summit in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on February 8, as part of a concerted international effort to forge ahead with the Middle East peace process. The invitation was delivered to Israeli premier Sharon by Egyptian intelligence services chief Omar Suleiman in a meeting in Jerusalem.
"In light of progress in the security talks with the Palestinians, Egyptian President Mubarak has invited Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmud Abbas to meet next Tuesday at Sharm el-Sheikh," a statement from the prime minister's office said.
"Prime Minister Sharon has accepted the invitation," the statement added. At the end of a trip to Turkey, Abbas also confirmed he would be going to Egypt and expressed hope the summit would yield positive results. "We will go to the meeting with hope," Abbas said.
The summit had been arranged due to the "critical stage the peace process is going through" and to "achieve concrete progress on the Palestinian track," said state media in Cairo.
After coming to power in February 2001, Sharon boycotted Abbas's late predecessor, Yasser Arafat, declaring him an obstacle to peace and kept him under virtual house arrest in the West Bank for nearly three years.
However, Arafat's death in November and Abbas's election on January 9 have prompted a renewed push for peace after more than four years of violence, which has claimed some 4,700 lives.