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Arab, Israeli, World Leaders in Egypt to Save Peace Process
This Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh on Monday came under media spotlight once again as Arab, Israeli, world leaders gathered for a summit aimed at salvaging the dying Middle East peace process.
U.S. President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Jordan's King Abdullah II arrived here Monday morning to join U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and the European Union's foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana for the summit, hosted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
A series of bilateral talks were held in the morning as parties concerned exchanging their ideas, if not conflicting, for the summit.
Annan told reporters after meeting with Mubarak here Sunday that Monday's summit was of crucial importance.
The U.N. chief urged cessation of acts of violence and the return to the negotiating table. He warned that the continued Mideast crisis would threaten world economic growth, citing the surge in oil prices, the highest in 10 years.
The situation "is going to affect all countries, rich and poor. This is an urgent and major crisis for all of us," Annan said.
"We cannot afford to fail," he warned.
Also on Saturday Clinton said the summit's central objective would be to stop the violence and agree "on a fact-finding mechanism concerning how this began and how it can be prevented from happening again, and find a way back to dialogue and negotiations."
However, he admitted that "ending the violence and getting people of the Middle East back to dialogue will be hard after what has happened."
"We should be under no illusions," he added. "The good news is the parties have agreed to meet and the situation appears to be calmer, but the path ahead is difficult."
Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and the Palestinians since it became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, says the summit's central goal should be to make Israel withdraw troops it sent into the Palestinian territories in the last two weeks.
Meanwhile, Arafat is demanding an international inquiry into the clashes and has made the creation of such an international investigatory panel a prime goal of his at the summit, while Israel says it will only accept a limited fact-finding exercise.
Barak told Mubarak after arrival here Monday morning that he will not pull back Israeli forces or reopen Palestinian areas until Arafat re-arrests dozens of militants released from Palestinian jails recently and tells security forces to stop shooting and participating in street clashes.
Barak also reiterated Israel's view of not accepting any kind of international investigation committee, but only a U.S.-led fact-finding team to probe the causes of the clashes.
The continuing clashes in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza have claimed the lives of more than 100 people and wounded 3,000 others, mostly Palestinians.
The violence started on September 28 after Israel's right-wing opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, revered by both Jews and Muslims.
The holy shrine, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sherif and to Jews as Temple Mount, was at the heart of a dispute between Israel and the Palestinians over the future status of Jerusalem, which caused the collapse of the Camp David summit in July.
Sharm el Sheikh has hosted previous summits, including one in September 1999 that saved the peace process from the stalemate that occurred under Barak's predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu.
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