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Olmert Makes 'Gesture of Goodwill'
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The release likely would not meet conditions set by Shalit's captors, who seek the freedom of Hamas members held by Israel.
Arab leaders had gone to the summit urging that Israel ease checkpoints that impede the lives and work of Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel's security forces have blocked previous pledges by Israeli civilian leaders to reduce the checkpoints, saying they are essential to Israel's security. The United Nations says the number of checkpoints has increased more than 40 percent since Israel promised in 2005 to reduce the barriers.
Olmert noted that he and the Arab leaders likely would face criticism at home for taking part in Monday's summit. At its end, closed-circuit TV at the summit site showed Israeli and Arab leaders beaming at one another, with Olmert repeatedly resting a hand on Mubarak's back and Mubarak reaching out to touch the shoulder of the Israeli leader. Arab satellite channels did not show these cordial scenes.
Egypt and Jordan worry that Hamas's ascendance will encourage Islamic activism on their own soil. Mubarak's administration has arrested hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and changed the constitution to block the movement's political rise. The Islamic political movement shocked Egypt's government in 2005 by winning nearly a fifth of the seats in the lower house of parliament.
"Today in the Sharm el-Sheikh summit they are all afraid and trying to find a way out," said Essam el-Eryan, a leader of the Brotherhood, in a telephone interview after the summit. "King Abdullah is scared. Half his population is Palestinian -- what if free elections are held today in Jordan?"
Mubarak, whose military trained hundreds of Fatah fighters in recent months, "is afraid from the revelation of his ties with Fatah," Eryan said. "Who trained Fatah? Who allowed the U.S. funds and weapons leak to Fatah? Who spoiled the Mecca accords?" he asked, referring to a pact brokered by Saudi Arabia to try to hold together the Hamas-Fatah government.
Correspondent Scott Wilson in Jerusalem and special correspondent Nora Younis in Sharm el-Sheikh contributed to this report.
