Mubarak and Abbas (Archive photo)
Photo: AP
Egypt trying to broker Olmert-Abbas meeting
Egypt working to arrange summit in bid to restart peace talks, calls on Hamas to accept Arab peace initiative
Egypt is trying to bring together Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to resume peace talks, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Thursday.
In a parallel effort, Cairo reiterated calls on Hamas to accept an Arab plan for peace with Israel.
This Arab initiative, adopted at a 2002 summit, proposes Arab recognition of Israel in return for land the Jewish state took from its neighbors in the 1967 war. Israel has not accepted the plan.
"Egypt's separate high-level efforts with both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides aim at preparing a suitable atmosphere for a meeting," Aboul Gheit told reporters, citing the 2005 Sharm el-Sheik talks where Israel's last prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and Abbas agreed on a cease-fire after four years of the beginning of the intifada.
Abbas, a member of the Fatah Party that led the Palestinian Authority government for the past decade, is at loggerheads with Hamas, which took power earlier this month, over its refusal to recognize or engage in direct talks with Israel.
Hamas has come under financial pressure to change its position since the U.S. And the European Union have halted aid to the Palestinians.
"The initiative is a fixed and unwavering Egyptian demand. It was also approved by the Palestinian Authority and it emerged from an agreement between the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) and the Israeli government," he said.
Arab League summits have reaffirmed support for the initiative each year since it was adopted.
"The Palestinian government should adhere to all the agreements signed by the (Palestinian) Authority in the past 10 years. We cannot retreat from such issues," Aboul Gheit said.
