Sheikh, Egypt, Feb 8, SPA -- With their flags whipping in the wind, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas met face-to-face at a Mideast summit Tuesday to announce an end to four years of violence and offer goodwill gestures they hope will start a new era of peace talks. Sharon and Abbas smiled broadly as they leaned across a long white table to shake hands as they met for the first time since Abbas succeeded Yasser Arafat after his November death. An invitation to both sides to meet separately with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House this spring added another round of momentum on the summit's eve. "Israel is willing to go very far and we're going to introduce today a package of confidence-building measures, incentives, to the Palestinians so that they could start this long journey on the road to peace," said Raanan Gissin, a top Sharon adviser. "But there's one thing that must be made very clear ... there will be no flexibility whatsoever, no compromise whatsoever on fighting terrorism." Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called the summit a "beginning" and said talks might continue in Israel as soon as Wednesday. "We're determined to exert every possible effort to maintain this," Erekat said. The cease-fire agreement to be announced later Tuesday will not be a formal written document, but instead a verbal declaration by each side to halt violence, said Gideon Meir, a senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry. An Egyptian official familiar with the deal confirmed that. Abbas will declare an end to violence against Israelis, and Sharon will declare an end to Israeli military operations, Meir said.
