Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas announced the end of four years of violence at a landmark summit in Egypt on Tuesday, setting the stage for a full-scale revival of the peace process.
”We have agreed with the prime minister to cease all acts of violence against Israelis and against Palestinians wherever they are,” Abbas said at the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Sharon said the Palestinians have agreed to end anti-Israeli actions and that, in parallel, ”Israel will cease its military operations against the Palestinians in all areas”.
”We have an opportunity to turn our back on the bloody path imposed on us over the last four years,” added Sharon, expressing hope that the summit will mark the day when the peace process was relaunched.
The summit comes amid a growing rapprochement after the moderate Abbas’s election a month ago and a new commitment by the United States to seek Middle East peace.
The pair met for the first encounter between Israeli and Palestinian leaders for more than four years after Sharon held his first-ever meeting with the summit host, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
‘A new era’
”The calm that is currently prevailing in our territories signals the start of a new era, the start of a hopeful peace,” Abbas added.
”What we have announced today is the implementation of the first phase of the road map … and an essential step to give us a chance to put the peace process back on track.”
Sharon warned, however, that it is a ”fragile opportunity” for peace, warning that there are ”extremists” waiting to derail the process.
A number of truces have been agreed between Israel and the Palestinians since the intifada erupted but all collapsed within weeks.
Along with Mubarak and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who was also attending, the leaders faced each other over a large round table, giving their declarations in turn and flanked by their respective delegations. Abdullah did not speak.
Mubarak hailed what he said was a ”positive spirit” between Israel and the Palestinians and said he hopes it will lead to an ”honest and serious” implementation of the road-map peace plan.
”They have met to work together with determination to turn the page on difficult years during which innocent people were killed, blood was shed and destruction prevailed.
”We are meeting here to put an end to this cycle [of violence], to put things back in order and to put the wheel of peace on the right track.
”The task is very great, but our hopes are greater.”
Sharon also confirmed that Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Differences to patch up
The summit comes just a day after new US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up a visit to the region declaring that both Sharon and Abbas have both accepted invitations to meet US President George Bush at the White House.
She also announced the appointment of a US security pointman for the Middle East, hailing what she called the ”most promising moment for progress … in recent years”.
The two sides have also not yet patched up some of their thorniest differences, such as Israel’s controversial West Bank security barrier, Israeli settlement activity and the closure of Palestinian groups in east Jerusalem.
”The discussions [on all these matters] will take place during the summit and afterwards,” Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb Erakat said.
Another burning issue is the fate of 8 000 Palestinian prisoners held behind bars in Israel.
Israel said last week it will free 900 prisoners, with a first batch of 500 set to be freed soon after the summit, but has insisted that none of them will have ”blood on their hands”.
But Israeli security services were on high alert for fear of attacks by Palestinian militants aimed at sabotaging the summit.
An Israeli official insisted that the Israeli military will preserve the right to ”liquidate a human bomb” — in other words, thwart a suspected Palestinian suicide bomber on the verge of executing an attack.
South Africa hails Israel-Palestine talks
South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Tuesday welcomed, on behalf of the government, the talks between Sharon and Abbas.
Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said: ”The South African government regards this first high-level contact, in more than four years, between Palestinians and Israelis as a first step towards a peaceful resolution to the conflict.”
Dlamini-Zuma said: ”It is our fervent hope that this would spell the beginning of good faith negotiations between Palestine and Israel. We believe that continued negotiations would lead to the effective dissolution of the current stalemate and thereby create a favourable environment for the implementation of the road map.
”The South African government reiterates its belief in the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state co-existing peacefully side by side with the Israeli state, as the key to resolving the Middle East conflict.
”South Africa stands ready to assist the people of Palestine and Israel, in whatever way it can, in their efforts to find a peaceful resolution to their current challenges” concluded Dlamini-Zuma. — I-Net Bridge, Sapa-AFP