Palestinian, Israeli Leaders Pledge to End Attacks

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon shake hands for the cameras before a meeting in Egypt. (Lefteris Pitarakis -- AP)

On the Israeli side, senior government officials said Israel's military would maintain its presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and continue to conduct operations against militants believed to preparing attacks against Israelis.

"We must move forward cautiously," Sharon said, sitting across from Abbas at a massive round table in a conference hall that has been the site of numerous peace summits. "This is a very fragile opportunity that the extremists will want to exploit. They want to close the window of opportunity for us and allow our two peoples to drown in their blood."

Sharon appeared to refer not only to Palestinian guerrillas but also to the politically powerful and outspoken Israeli minority who oppose his plan to pull Jewish settlers and Israeli troops out of the Gaza Strip and four small settlements in the West Bank this summer.

Tuesday's summit was the first between high-ranking Israeli and Palestinian officials since President Bush attended a similar session with Sharon and Abbas -- then Arafat's prime minister -- in the Jordanian seaport of Aqaba in June 2003 to announce the launching of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.

Following that summit, Abbas persuaded Palestinian militant groups to agree to a cease-fire. But it collapsed within months, and Abbas resigned his post in frustration with Arafat, Israel and world leaders' failure to support the peace process.

At Tuesday's summit, held at a resort where bemused golfers watched as Egyptian security officials patrolled the fairways with bomb-sniffing dogs, participants were sequestered in a conference hall. Reporters were not allowed to view any of the proceedings, though ritual handshakes and the summit-ending addresses by Sharon, Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak were conducted before television cameras and news photographers.

Sharon and Abbas held a private meeting that lasted just over an hour, and both men held private meetings with Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

Palestinians and Israelis choreographed Tuesday's summit in minute detail, even exchanging copies of Abbas's and Sharon's speeches the day before the meeting, according to officials on both sides.

Joint committees were formed to seek compromises on a number of issues. One will haggle over the number and type of Palestinian prisoners Israel is willing to release -- an issue that nearly derailed the summit a few days ago. Israel has said it will release 900 of the 7,600 prisoners that the Palestinian Authority says are being held, and the Defense Ministry announced Tuesday that the first 500 would be freed next week. Palestinian officials have said the overall number is insufficient.

Another committee will work out the details of the Israeli military withdrawal from the West Bank cities of Jericho, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Qalqilyah and Tulkarm.

The far more prickly issues, including the future of Jerusalem, the security barrier that Israel is building through and around the West Bank and the rapid expansion of settlements across the West Bank, have not been scheduled for discussion, officials said.

Even so, the summit offered a flash of hope among Israeli and Palestinian leaders who have been trapped in grinding violence and repetitive rhetoric for most of the past four years.

Mubarak called the summit "a significant and very important step forward," adding, "We met today to put an end to this whirlpool and put the peace process back on track."

Mubarak said he believed Sharon and Abbas were "equally sincere" in their efforts to negotiate a solution to the conflict.

Sharon invited Abbas to his ranch in southern Israel for their next meeting, Israeli officials said. If that session is successful, they said, they hope a third meeting would be conducted in Ramallah, where Abbas's headquarters is located.

Researcher Samuel Sockol in Jerusalem contributed to this report.