The issue of relaunching the stalled Middle East peace process
is expected to top the agenda of the meeting between Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on
Thursday, according to an Egyptian official.
Mubarak and Olmert will meet at the Red Sea resort of Sharm
el-Sheikh on Thursday to prepare the groundwork for a three-way
summit between Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and
Mubarak, the Egyptian presidential spokesman Suliman Awwad said on
Wednesday.
Moreover, another meeting between Olmert and Abbas will be
proposed at Thursday's summit, said Awwad, noting that "the
Egyptian-Israeli summit is in preparation for a meeting between
Olmert and Abbas in Sharm el-Sheikh in the near future, with
Egyptian mediation."
The two leaders will also discuss the issue of Israeli soldier
Gilad Shalit who was captured last June near the Gaza Strip by
three Palestinian groups including the armed wing of the governing
Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) as the Palestinian groups are
demanding 1,500 prisoners be freed in exchange for Shalit's
release, according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul
Gheit.
The meeting between Olmert and Mubarak comes ahead of a visit by
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region on January 13
and 14, aimed at unblocking the stalled peace process.
On Dec. 16, 2006, Abbas called for early elections to resolve
clashes in Gaza Strip between Hamas and his Fatah movement, while
Egypt is exerting efforts to mediate the Israeli-Palestinian peace
process.
(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2007)
