Sharon, right, pledged to end “military operations”. (Reuters)

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, February 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – With no mutual ceasefire declaration, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas separately announced Tuesday, February 8, a pledge to observe a ceasefire at the end of a day-long summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Shaikh.

Palestinian sources, meanwhile, said differences between Sharon and Abbas prevented a mutual ceasefire declaration and Al-Jazeera reported a rift erupted between Abbas and Sharon over what Israel calls “wanted Palestinians”.

Only minutes after the summit, also attended by Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, ended, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit declared both Egypt and Jordan would be sending their ambassadors back to Israel.

“We have agreed with the prime minister (Sharon) to cease all acts of violence against Israelis and against Palestinians wherever they are,” Abbas said at the end of the summit.

Sharon, on the other hand, said the Palestinians had agreed to end anti-Israeli actions and that in parallel “Israel will cease its military operations against the Palestinians in all areas.”

“We have an opportunity to turn our back on the bloody path imposed on us over the last four years,” added Sharon, expressing hope that the summit would mark the day when the peace process was re-launched, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Differences

Abbas, left, with Mubarak in Sharm El-Shaikh. (Reuters)

Abbas, during his own declaration, believed the relative calm prevailing in the occupied Palestinian territories currently to be the start of a new era, adding the ceasefire declaration to be within the roadmap mechanisms.

“The calm that is currently prevailing in our territories signals the start of a new era, the start of a hopeful peace.

“What we have announced today is the implementation of the first phase of the roadmap ... and an essential step to give us a chance to put the peace process back on track.”

Sharon, however, saw it as a “fragile opportunity” for peace, warning that there were “extremists” waiting to derail the process.

Sharon also confirmed that Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Along with Mubarak and Abdullah, who was also attending, the leaders faced each other over a large round table, giving their declarations in turn and flanked by their respective delegations. Abdullah did not speak.

Mubarak, for his part, hailed what he said was a “positive spirit” between Israelis and Palestinians and said he hoped it would lead to an “honest and serious” implementation of the roadmap peace plan, according to AFP.

“They have met to work together with determination to turn the page on difficult years during which innocent people were killed, blood was shed and destruction prevailed.

“We are meeting here to put an end to this cycle (of violence), to put things back in order and to put the wheel of peace on the right track. "The task is very great, but our hopes are greater.”

“Devilish Details”

Meanwhile, political analysts, observers and Palestinian resistance factions warned Sharon’s pledge was not clear enough, leaving the door open to problems that may lead to a fresh flare up in confrontations.

“The main issues of concern to Palestinians were not even mentioned. There was no clear pledges on (releasing) all Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, no word on (Israeli) withdrawal, stopping of settlements or dismantling the separation wall,” Palestinian MP and former negotiator Hanan Ashrawy, told Al-Jazeera.

“The summit dealt only with the security issue and this is a clear bias towards the Israeli position. The roadmap puts commitments on both sides, but dealing only with the cause as a security one serves Israeli interests alone.”

Palestinian resistance factions, for their part, cautioned the Israeli declaration to “stop military operations”, was generalization and in effect offered no clear commitment to stopping anti-Palestinian “aggressions and attacks”.

“There was no mutual ceasefire declaration. Sharon’s words in this regard are general sentences,” an official with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Qais Abu Laila, told Al-Jazeera.

Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmed Saadat, told Al-Jazeera, from his prison cell in Jericho, that the approach the summit stresses is the security one.

“That does not open the door for a political process to end the conflict and occupation or give the Palestinians their legitimate rights. What we saw (in Sharm El-Shaikh) is spotlighting (Palestinian) violence, overlooking the very simple fact of (Israeli) occupation being the cause of such so-called violence.”

A Hamas spokesman, Mousheir El-Masry, meanwhile, said the Islamic resistance group would realize a truce as long as Israel is committed to stopping its aggressions.

“Our people have many demands that have not yet been addressed. Releasing over 8000 detainees in Israeli jails tops these demands.”

Sharon Wins

In the run up to the summit, called for by Egypt’s Mubarak last week, reports highlighted what each party would be hoping to achieve in Sharm El-Shaikh and it was clear Sharon got what he wanted.

Aboul Gheit announced, during the summit, that Egypt and Jordan have agreed to send their ambassadors back to Israel, according to Reuters.

“The Jordanians as well as the Egyptians have taken a decision to allow the ambassadors to return. That is a decision,” he told reporters.

Asked when the ambassadors would return to their posts, he said: “It will take place.”

Egypt withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv shortly after the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada in September 2000 while Amman did not replace a departing ambassador in protest at Israel's actions to quell the uprising.

Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab nations to have signed peace treaties with Israel.

Sharon, on his part, has invited Abbas to his farm in the southern Negev desert, Sharon's spokesman said Tuesday after the pair met at the summit.

“Prime Minister Sharon has invited Mahmud Abbas to visit him in his farm,” Raanan Gissin told reporters.

Asked when, the spokesman replied that it would be “very soon.”

Gissin also said he hoped the two leaders could then meet in the West Bank town of Ramallah, the political capital of the Palestinian Authority.

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