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Israel seeks Arab peace support Olmert optimism on peace chances
(about 2 hours later)
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, is holding talks in Egypt with President Hosni Mubarak ahead of a Middle East peace conference in the US. The Israeli and Egyptian leaders have held a rare meeting to co-ordinate preparations for a regional conference due to be hosted by the US next week.
Mr Olmert is seeking broad Arab support for the US conference next week. Israeli PM Ehud Olmert told reporters he hoped a peace deal with the Palestinians could be reached in 2008.
Arab League foreign ministers will meet in Cairo on Friday to decide their position on the meeting. The Sharm el-Sheikh summit comes a day after he failed to bridge gaps with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas over a agreed blueprint for future talks.
Israel and the US are pressing for high level Arab representation at the talks, but some Arab states doubt Israel is ready to make serious concessions. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak offered to travel to Israel if that would help.
Mr Olmert is keen to ensure that Arab foreign ministers from key states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia will be at the Annapolis meeting. A joint declaration about final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian had been intended to be the centrepiece of the next week's Annapolis conference in the US.
Israeli officials argue that that would strengthen the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and would also send a positive message to an Israeli public wary of making concessions to the Palestinians. A senior Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said the two sides would continue their efforts on Tuesday to try to agree a text.
US 'committed' Analysts say that without a joint Israeli and Palestinian statement, the conference will have little chance of success.
Although Arab foreign ministers will meet in Cairo on Friday to co-ordinate their positions on the Annapolis meeting, the decision of whether to go or not will be decided by each government separately. Ground-breaking
Egyptian officials have indicated that it is highly likely their foreign minister will go. Mr Olmert went a little further than his previous prediction that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal could be reached before US President George W Bush leaves office in January 2009.
They say they are convinced the United States is now committed to launching a serious peace process. Gaza must be part of the Palestinian state and then, naturally, the Palestinians must fight terrorism Ehud Olmert "The negotiations will not be simple. There will be differences, crises and arguments. But if we act with caution, there is a chance that we can reach a deal," he said.
But it may prove a difficult decision for countries - like Saudi Arabia - which do not have relations with Israel. A major problem will be solving the split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which the militant group Hamas took control of in June.
The Arab view so far is that the Israelis have not offered enough assurances to suggest that they are serious about reaching peace and making the necessary sacrifices. "Gaza must be part of the Palestinian state and then, naturally, the Palestinians must fight terrorism, and that includes the Gaza Strip," Mr Olmert said.
Mr Mubarak said he would be prepared to re-enact his predecessor Anwar Sadat's ground-breaking trip to Jerusalem, which took place exactly 30 years ago on Monday.
"If my visit to Israel will solve the Palestinian problem, I'm ready to go," Mr Mubarak said in response to a journalist's question at the Sinai resort.
The veteran Egyptian leader has visited Israel, for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's funeral in 1995, but it was an unofficial visit.
'Convinced'
Israel and the US have been pressing for high level Arab representation at the Annapolis talks due next week.
Arab foreign ministers are meeting in Cairo on Friday to coordinate their positions, although each government is to decide separately whether to send a delegation.
Egyptian officials say they are convinced the US is now committed to launching a serious peace process and its foreign minister is expected to attend.
Analysts says other Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, believe Israel has not offered enough assurances about its seriousness to reach peace and to make the necessary sacrifices.
Israel and the Palestinians are divided over the fate of West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967, and the Palestinian refugee problem dating back to the establishment of Israel in 1948.
Syria has said it will only join the conference if the issue of the Golan Heights, also occupied by Israel in 1967, is on the agenda.