Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit (R) meets with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm El-Sheikh on Nov. 8, 2008. Ban Ki-moon arrived here Saturday to attend the Middle East Quartet Principals Meeting, to be held on Sunday.(Xinhua Photo/Zhang Ning) Photo Gallery>>>

    SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit held talks here on Saturday with visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ahead of an upcoming meeting of the international Quartet on the Middle East.

    The talks between Abul Gheit and Ban focused on Egypt's efforts to push forward the Mideast peace process, particularly the peace negotiations between the Palestinian and Israel.

    They also discussed the Egyptian mediation to help heal the current inter-Palestinian rift and reach a Palestinian national reconciliation.

    Ban arrived in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier in the day to attend the Quartet meeting on Nov. 9.

    The international Quartet, which groups the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, will evaluate the development of the Mideast peace process, particularly the peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel.

    At the U.S.-hosted Annapolis conference on Mideast peace last November, Palestinian and Israeli leaders pledged to try to reach a peace agreement by the end of 2008.

    But the United States confessed that there are slim chances for the two sides to reach a deal in the year.

    U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who also arrived Saturday in the Egyptian resort for the Quartet meeting, said Thursday that a year-end target date for a Palestinian-Israeli agreement was no longer realistic.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit (R) meets with United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm El-Sheikh on Nov. 8, 2008. Rice arrived here Saturday to attend the Middle East Quartet Principals Meeting, to be held on Sunday.(Xinhua Photo/Zhang Ning) Photo Gallery>>>

 

Egyptian FM calls on Obama push forward Mideast peace process

   SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on Saturday voiced his hope that U.S. president-elect Barack Obama will refresh efforts to help advance the Middle East peace.

    The upcoming new U.S. administration should maintain the push to advance the stalled Mideast peace process, Abul Gheit told reporters at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the eve of an international Quartet meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. Full story

Israeli-Palestinian peace process on hold

 JERUSALEM, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Though it is unrealistic to reach Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by the end of U.S. President George W. Bush's term, political analysts here do not regard it as a setback.

    The comment came after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in her talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders during her on-going Mideast trip, has conceded this week that the Annapolis goal are unlikely to be met by the year's end, while denying that the peace push was a failure.Full story 

Palestinian unity dialogue postponed due to Hamas boycott

    CAIRO, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Egypt decided on Saturday to put off a long-awaited Palestinians national unity dialogue that is planned to open in Cairo on Nov. 10 after the Islamic Hamas movement announced to boycott the talks.

    "The scheduled talks would be postponed," said an Egyptian source on condition of anonymity, adding an alternative date to start the dialogue has yet be determined. Full story

Rice arrives in Egypt to attend Quartet meeting on Mideast peace

    SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived Saturday afternoon in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to attend a meeting of the international Quartet on the Mideast peace.

    Upon her arrival, Rice held talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on regional developments in Sharm el-Sheikh, the last stop of her four-leg Mideast tour. Full story

Egypt delays dialogue after Hamas boycotted

    GAZA, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Egypt postponed inter-Palestinian dialogue as several Palestinian factions, mainly Hamas, decided to boycott it, Palestinian sources said on Saturday.

    Ramattan, a local news agency, quoted Palestinian officials as saying that Egypt told them the dialogue, which was scheduled to start on Sunday, was delayed. Full story