MIDDLE EAST: With doubts beginning to grow over a meeting between Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mr Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday stepped into the breach and invited the two men to a summit - an offer neither could afford to refuse.
The summit, which will be hosted by Mr Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah, will be held on Tuesday at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Aides to both men said they had responded swiftly to Mr Mubarak's overture, although Mr Abbas and Mr Sharon are likely to have different agendas going into the meeting - their first since a summit in Jordan in mid-2003, when Mr Abbas was prime minister and US President George Bush was trying to breathe new life into the shattered peace process.
Mr Abbas wants to secure an Israeli commitment to release thousands of security prisoners as well as an Israeli withdrawal from major towns and cities in the West Bank that were reoccupied in 2002. He also wants to get Mr Sharon to co-ordinate his planned withdrawal from Gaza in the summer with the Palestinians. Ultimately, Mr Abbas wants to use the withdrawal to resuscitate the road map peace plan and get back to discussing final status issues like borders, refugees and the future of Jerusalem.
That's the last thing on Mr Sharon's mind. He doesn't believe a comprehensive agreement is possible - only a long-term interim deal. He will want to focus on the short-term, pressing Mr Abbas on security matters, especially the launching of rockets into Israel and the firing of mortars at Jewish settlements in the Strip.
Defence Minister Mr Shaul Mofaz told Palestinian negotiators earlier this week that Israel would not hand over West Bank cities as long as mortar fire continued in Gaza. "The Palestinians have deployed their forces on the ground," he said yesterday.
"There is a presence, but they aren't taking any active measures [ against militants]." Despite Israeli demands, Mr Abbas has said he will not use force to restrain militant groups, preferring dialogue as a means of getting them to sign onto a truce. In contradicting Mr Mofaz, he will also point to a series of orders he has issued that are aimed at preventing violence, like the destruction of an arms-smuggling tunnel along the Gaza-Egypt border by Palestinian security forces yesterday. Israel has long demanded that the Palestinian Authority destroy these tunnels, which are used to ferret weapons into the Strip.
Two weeks ago, Palestinian security forces, under orders from Mr Abbas, began deploying in northern Gaza to prevent rocket attacks and last week they took up positions in southern Gaza.
While Mr Abbas has yet to get militant groups to agree formally to a ceasefire, he has got them to scale back attacks dramatically. Israel has also played its part by reducing its military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including the targeting of militant leaders on its wanted list.
The two sides have agreed that the issue of Palestinian fugitives will be discussed by a joint committee that will examine removing some of them from Israel's wanted list. Mr Abbas wants Israel to agree to stop hunting these militants - a move that would help him persuade them to agree to a truce. Mr Amos Gilad, a senior official in the defence ministry, said yesterday Israel would stop targeting those fugitives who handed in their weapons and signed an agreement to cease attacks on Israelis.
While he said Israel would "have to include all the fugitives who stop being active," Mr Gilad added that if they "return to terror then in the end we will return to a different type of vigorous activity."
Mr Sharon was taken by surprise yesterday by the Egyptian invitation, which came during a meeting in Jerusalem with Egyptian intelligence chief Mr Omar Suleiman. Egypt, which is keen to see Israel pull out of Gaza and to get the peace process back on track, is currently holding talks with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Cairo to get them to agree to a truce.