Cease-fire announced at Mideast summit
By The Associated Press
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared Tuesday that their people would stop all military or violent activity, pledging to break the four-year cycle of bloodshed and get peace talks back on track.
With the flags of their countries whipping in the wind, Sharon and Abbas met face-to-face at a Mideast summit Tuesday. In one sign the talks went well, Egypt and Jordan announced immediately afterward that they would return their ambassadors to Israel after a four-year absence.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas immediately called the deal into question. The group's representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, told The cease-fire deal, and the sight of Sharon and Abbas smiling broadly as they leaned across a long white table to shake hands, were the clearest signs yet of momentum in the peace process after Yasser Arafat's death in November and Abbas' election to succeed him in January. An invitation to both sides to meet separately with President Bush at the White House this spring added another round of momentum on the summit's eve.
"We have agreed on halting all violent actions against Palestinians and Israelis wherever they are," Abbas declared in a statement made after the meetings, as he, Sharon, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II sat at a round table.
Sharon made a similar pledge.
"Today, in my meeting with chairman Abbas, we agreed that all Palestinians will stop all acts of violence against all Israelis everywhere, and, at the same time, Israel will cease all its military activity against all Palestinians everywhere," he said.
Abbas said he expected the cease-fire pledges to pave the way for resumption of talks on so-called "final status" issues such as borders, refugees and Jerusalem's status, all within the context of the Mideast "road map" to peace. Sharon said he also expected the deal Tuesday to set the stage for the implementation of the "road map."
During the summit, Sharon also invited Abbas to visit him at his ranch in southern Israel and Abbas accepted, according to a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, Gideon Meir.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said that meeting would take place soon.
Sharon said he would like the next meeting to be in the West Bank town of Ramallah, said his adviser, Raanan Gissin.
In Jerusalem, a key parliamentary committee narrowly approved a bill allowing Sharon to carry out his planned pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank in the summer. The vote passed 10-9 on a subject that has split Sharon's party and angered his main constituency settlers and their supporters.