Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt), May 3: The leaders of Israel and Egypt met on Monday to discuss the renewal of the West Asia peace process ahead of US-backed indirect negotiations between the Palestinians and the Jewish state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s talks with regional broker President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh “focused on the renewal of the peace process,” the Premier’s office said.
The closed-door talks took place “in a positive and constructive atmosphere,” the Israeli leader’s office said in a statement issued after the almost 90-minute encounter.
The leaders, who made no comments to reporters at the resort, “reviewed Egyptian and international efforts to prepare the ground for the indirect talks ... aimed at a two-state solution,” Egypt’s official news agency MENA said. Their talks were focused on the launch expected within days of indirect negotiations betw-een Israel and the Palestinians, a process suspended since the Gaza war of December 2008-January 2009. Mr Netanyahu’s visit came amid a flurry of diplomatic activity two days after the Arab League voiced its support for the so-called “proximity talks.”
The Israeli Premier was accompanied in Sharm el-Sheikh by the chairman of the National Security Committee, Uzi Arad, and industry and trade minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said they met with Egypt’s intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.
The indirect talks — the result of several months of US diplomacy — were set to start in March but scuttled after Israel announced it would build 1,600 new homes in an east Jerusalem settlement. The Arab League on Saturday gave its green light for the talks to go ahead. —AFP
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Recount begins in Baghdad
Baghdad, May 3: A controversial recount that could alter who becomes Iraq’s Prime Minister began on Monday in Baghdad, the latest in a series of pivotal steps threatening the vote’s credibility.
The war-torn country’s March 7 parliamentary poll has yet to produce a government and the outcome remains shrouded in doubt due to the recount and an imminent ruling on whether several winning candidates should be disqualified.
The United States is increasingly concerned that an initially credible election could unravel because of a political stalemate, a lack of democratic transparency and the potential disenfranchisement of a large number of voters. The recount follows a successful appeal by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who alleged that he had lost votes because of violations at polling centres in Baghdad during the March 7 ballot.
No sooner was it under way than allegations of “ballot stuffing” were raised by a leading member of Mr Maliki’s state of law alliance, who hit out at how the recount was being conducted, and lodged an appeal to stop it. Baghdad was by far the biggest prize in the election almost two months ago, with 70 seats on offer in a new 325-seat Parliament.