Arafat, Barak Invited to Meet in Egypt: MubarakEgyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Tuesday that he has invited Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to a summit in Egypt to help seek a final peace settlement.Mubarak said that Arafat and Barak welcomed his invitation. Barak's Official said in a release that the three leaders will meet in Cairo on Thursday. This follows a meeting Wednesday in Paris between Arafat and Barak, to be hosted by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, as the two sides have agreed to end five days of Palestinian-Israeli bloody clashes in the occupied territories. While the Paris meeting would examine the cause of the violence and ways to contain it, the Egyptian summit is aimed at laying the groundwork for overcoming all political obstacles to a settlement of the outstanding issues in the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, Mubarak said. The Palestinians and Israelis have made little progress in the final-status talks since the Camp David summit failed in July, mainly due to their disputes over Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital. The meeting in Egypt would enable Arafat and Barak to "sit down together and discuss the details of all subjects with complete frankness," Mubarak was quoted as saying. The Palestinian and Israeli leaders met in Sharm el Sheikh in September last year and March this year to advance the peace process with host Mubarak playing his traditional role in trying to bridge gaps between the two sides. Egypt, the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, has been a key mediator in peace negotiations between Israel and other Arab states and the Palestinians. |
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