An Israeli official accused Egypt of "continuing to lead a campaign throughout the Arab world for the boycott of Israeli products"

OCCUIPED JERUSALEM, May 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not meet with U.S. President George W. Bush and Palestinian Premier Mahmud Abbas in Egypt, a high-ranking Israeli official said Monday, May 26.

"Sharon will certainly not go to Egypt considering this country's hostile position towards Israel, despite the peace treaty it has signed," the official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity.

In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state.

The official accused Egypt of "continuing to lead a campaign throughout the Arab world for the boycott of Israeli products."

However, he confirmed that a summit in the Jordanian Red Sea resort of Aqaba within three weeks was a possibility, but said the date and the venue was Washington's decision.

U.S. officials had mentioned the possibility of a three-way summit in Egypt or Jordan on the heels of the three-day G8 summit in France which ends on June 3.

The Israeli official also said that a meeting between Sharon and Abbas which had been scheduled by the Palestinians for Monday would take place before the end of the week.

Israel's qualified acceptance of the U.S. inspired "roadmap" for peace with the Palestinians has boosted the chances of Bush holding a peace summit in the region.

The White House hailed Israel's acceptance of the blueprint as "an important step forward" and reports said a White House advance party had gone to Egypt and Jordan to prepare a possible summit.

"We look forward to working with all parties in the region to realize the vision of peace which the president laid out," White House spokesman Adam Levine said.

State Department spokeswoman Tara Rigler said the Bush administration welcomed Sharon's acceptance of the roadmap.

"The president has affirmed his determination to move ahead and to make progress toward his June 24 vision using the road map as a practical guide," Rigler said.

"We will continue to work closely with both sides throughout implementation of the roadmap."

In his White House speech on June 24, 2002, Bush expressed U.S. commitment to creating an independent Palestinian state living in peace with Israel, and called for sweeping changes in the Palestinian leadership.

Bush said Friday, May 22, that he would meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders if it will promote peace.

"If a meeting advances progress toward two states living side-by-side in peace, I will strongly consider such a meeting," Bush said.

Media reports said a U.S. team left Washington for Egypt Sunday to prepare for a possible summit between Bush and the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The White House refused to comment on the reports.

The Israeli cabinet approved the internationally-drafted document with 12 votes for, seven against and four abstentions, in a stormy session.

Sharon agreed to call the vote only after the United States on Friday gave a formal new pledge to be mindful of its key Middle East ally's security concerns, laid out earlier in a statement by Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Senior U.S. officials have said that Israel's concerns would be addressed within the context of implementing the roadmap, not by changing the internationally drawn blueprint itself, which Palestinians refuse to alter.

Drafted by the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia, the roadmap calls for an end to the violence raging since September 2000, an Israeli withdrawal to pre-Intifada lines, a freeze of Jewish settlement activity and the eventual creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

A leading U.S. senator and presidential candidate on Sunday urged Bush to play a greater role in pushing the roadmap.

"The Bush administration has effectively been disengaged from the ground in the Middle East," Senator Joseph Lieberman told the "Fox News Sunday" program.

"It's not going to get better between the Israelis and Palestinians unless the United States is there.

"It seems to me is that what they (Israel) have approved is the destination, which is peace with the Palestinians. And they've effectively agreed to get in the same car with Abu Mazen and the United States," he said.

Most Israelis For Roadmap

Most Israelis are in favor of the roadmap for peace approved Sunday, May 25, by their government, but only a bare majority think it will lead to a lasting accord with the Palestinians, an opinion poll published Monday showed.

The poll by the Dahaf institute for the Yediot Aharonot said that of the 500-strong sample questioned, 56 percent were in favor of the international peace plan, compared with 34 percent against and 10 percent undecided.

Some 51 percent believed the roadmap would reach its goal of a lasting peace and a separate Palestinian state by 2005, against 43 percent in doubt.

And 62 percent believed that Sharon only gave his consent to the plan under pressure from the United States, which said it would take Israeli concerns into account.

Sharon's government reluctantly approved the plan Sunday, and immediately put down a strong marker by rejecting the return of Palestinian refugees who fled their homes in 1948.