Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak have agreed to attend a Middle East summit to be hosted by Egypt at Sharm el-Sheikh.
"President Arafat called the secretary general, who was in Jerusalem, to tell him that he agreed to take part in a summit," spokesman Ahmed Fouzi told AFP.
A French official said that Arafat informed President Jacques Chirac that he had agreed to attend the summit on Sunday.
"Yasser Arafat has just informed the president of the republic that he accepts, in a spirit of peace, to attend the summit which is expected to take place Sunday in Egypt at Sharm el-Sheikh," she said.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians said that Israel has agreed to stop shooting at the Palestinians and has eased a closure of the Palestinian territories to allow for the summit, a Palestinian official told AFP.
Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak said that UN Secretary General Kofi Anna, Jordan's King Abdullah II, as well as France and Spain, have asked to participate in a the summit – (AFP)
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