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June 25, 2007 
Summit Talks Begin in Sharm el-Sheikh

Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt)
The leaders of Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority converged on the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh Monday evening and began talks aimed to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and boost Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his new emergency government.

The summit was called after Abbas dissolved the Hamas-led Palestinian cabinet in the wake of the Islamist movement's takeover of the Gaza Strip, appointing an interim government that was immediately hailed by many Arab and international states.

Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak, who is hosting the event, held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, before meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when the latter arrived at the resort in the late afternoon.

After the bilateral talks and ahead of the summit, Presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad told reporters that Mubarak insisted that the summit aims at "re-establishing trust and paving the way for jump-starting the peace process especially that the Palestinian people are severely suffering."

According to Awwad, who was quoting Mubarak, the Arab leaders "will not accept that the Palestinian people be starved, or that Gaza should turn into a mass prison."

Awwad said that Olmert showed "understanding" to Mubarak's demands that included lifting all military checkpoints in the West Bank, shifting security control from the Israelis to the Palestinian Authority, in addition to the regular transfer of Palestinian tax revenue funds to the Palestinians.

DPA | June 25, 2007  

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