Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak(R) meets with visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh on May 20, 2005. (Xinhua/AFP photo)

    CAIRO, May 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Saturday morning met with visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh and the two sides discussed the latest developments in the Middle East.

    The talks focused on the expected Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank with a view to coordinating their positions before Abbas' planned visit to the United States on May 26, the official MENA news agency reported.

    Abbas announced that he will also meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on June 7.

    Abbas will pay his first visit to the United States since he was elected in January as the leader of the Palestinian National Authority to succeed the late Yasser Arafat, whom the US president George W.Bush had refused to meet and had declared persona nongrata.

    Egypt has warned against the negative impact of Israeli recent equivocation in sticking to its commitments undertaken on Feb. 8 at a meeting between Abbas and Sharon in Sharm el-Sheikh.

    Abbas arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh Friday night coming from New Delhi, India. His visit to Egypt comes after his South America and Asia tours which have also taken him to China and Japan. Enditem