The leaders of Jordan and Egypt have agreed to ask major powers to revive Middle East peace talks next month to pre-empt Israeli unilateral moves, their foreign ministers say. King Abdullah and Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, are worried about the prospects for Arab-Israeli peace after the election of a new Israeli government under Ehud Olmert and a new Palestinian government led by Hamas. Olmert says he aims to set Israel's borders unilaterally if no basis can be found for negotiations - a prospect that seems remote since Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction and has refused to sign up to existing interim peace deals.
After a summit in the Red Sea port of Aqaba, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Egyptian foreign minister, and his Jordanian counterpart Abdelelah al-Khatib, said they would lobby a meeting of the Middle East Quartet in New York on May 9. |