Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will meet in Egypt Thursday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.
Mubarak Tuesday invited Arafat and Barak to meet him at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh but did not name a day. Barak's office said it would be Thursday.
Albright was already meeting Barak and Arafat in Paris on Wednesday in a bid to calm the violence in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Israel which has claimed more than 60 lives, mostly Palestinian, since Friday.
Egypt's ambassador to Israel, Mohamed Bassyuni, said on Egyptian state television Wednesday there would also be a meeting in the region of a special security committee of Israeli, Palestinian and US officials to try to calm the situation.
The violence broke out after Israeli right-wing opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the al-Aqsa mosque compound, housing Islam's third holiest site, on Temple Mount in Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem, which is also sacred to Jews and the subject of a bitter dispute over sovereignty.
Israel, which has used tanks, missiles and helicopter gunships against Palestinians armed with stones, Molotov cocktails and small arms, has come under fire from some western countries for excessive use of force.
Barak telephoned Mubarak before leaving for Paris to discuss the situation, the Egyptian news agency MENA reported - CAIRO (AFP)
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