JERUSALEM, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Foreign Minister TzipiLivni and Vice Premier Shimon Peres will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Egypt on Sunday, Livni's office said Friday.

    The meeting, due to be held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh,is the first high-level contact between Israelis and Palestinians since Hamas won a stunning victory in January's Palestinian legislative elections.

    Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat is also due to take part in the scheduled half-hour meeting, local reports said.

    The encounter, which comes two days before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert holds his first meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington since taking office earlier this month, is bound to be welcomed by the Bush administration, which has been encouraging such contacts in hopes of isolating Hamas.

    Three of the prime minister's top aides, who were in Washington this week to lay the groundwork for his meetings with top American officials, are believed to have come under pressure to impress on Olmert to try to negotiate a final peace deal with Abbas, rather than unilaterally draw Israel's final borders with the West Bank, which has been met with strong international opposition,especially in Europe.

    The premier has repeatedly said that he favors direct negotiations with the Palestinians, but will act unilaterally to set Israel's final borders by 2010 if it becomes clear in the next six months that such talks are impossible.

    Israel has shunned Hamas-led government as long as it refuses to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and accept previous peace accords. Enditem