Cairo: Key Arab countries will surely attend the US-sponsored Mideast peace conference due later this year, Palestinian President Mamoud Abbas claimed today, although none of the countries has independently confirmed its attendance. Abbas spoke in Cairo after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has remained reluctant on the gathering called for by US President George W Bush for late November or December in Annapolis, Maryland.

No fixed date has been set for the US -sponsored summit, mainly because the Israeli and Palestinian side remain so far apart on the starting point for the talks. Israel wants a vague, joint statement of objectives for the conference while the Palestinians seek a detailed outline that would address core issues that need to be resolved before peace can be achieved and a Palestinian state established.

In Cairo, the Palestinian leader insisted the US -hosted conference should not be a venue for Arabs to normalize ties with the Jewish state, but said the conference should set a clear timetable for Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

"It is certain now that those who will attend the conference are the (Mideast) Quartet, the permanent Security Council members, the Arab follow-up committee which include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, Syria, Palestine, Qatar, Lebanon, Morocco, Yemen and the Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa," Abbas said. The Mideast Quartet consists of key Middle East peacemakers the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

Source : PTI