CAIRO: Egypt has pressed Israel to pave the way for peace talks with Palestinians by meeting longstanding Palestinian demands on Jewish settlements and the barrier in the West Bank, the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. In advance of a meeting between Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders in Egypt, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Israel should stop work on the settlements and on the barrier, remove checkpoints in the West Bank and end raids into Palestinian towns. The Palestinian leader at the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh will be President Mahmoud Abbas, whose position Egypt and Jordan want to strengthen by showing that he can make life better for West Bank Palestinians. Abbas and his Fatah movement have lost control of the Gaza Strip to the Islamist movement Hamas, which is not invited to the summit. Abbas refuses to deal with Hamas and Israel is trying to undermine the Islamist movement by depriving Gaza of anything but humanitarian assistance. In a phone conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Saturday evening, Aboul Gheit asked Israel to act towards the Palestinian Authority in a way that achieves calm and creates the atmosphere for resuming the peace process , according to a ministry statement. This requires halting settlement operations, ending construction of the separation wall, stopping raids on cities and removing the checkpoints.
Israel says the barrier, a mix of wire fencing and concrete walls, stop suicide bombers from reaching its cities. The International Court of Justice has called the barrier illegal. Egypt has condemned Hamas for taking control of Gaza earlier this month, saying the Islamists staged a coup against the legitimate Palestinian authorities. But Aboul Gheit told Livni that Israel must let food into Gaza, along with water and electricity. Punishing the Palestinian people cannot be permitted under any circumstances, Aboul Gheit said, according to the ministry statement. Israel has said it will allow only humanitarian and basic supplies into the Hamas-controlled enclave.
