The Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, and the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, have both agreed to attend a Middle East summit meeting on Monday. The summit is to be held in the Egyptian town of Sharm el-Sheikh with the United States and Egypt also attending.
Announcing the summit, the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said that neither side had mentioned any conditions. However, some members of the Palestinian leadership suggested that they had demanded some concessions from Israel before they would attend. Israel has been saying that they will only attend the summit without preconditions. The White House today confirmed that US President, Bill Clinton, will attend the summit. "The summit will convene Monday and he will depart tomorrow," a White House spokesman said. The Islamic militant group, Hamas, has condemned Palestinian participation in the talks.
Meanwhile, the US government has now said that it believes 17 of its sailors died in Thursday's attack on its warship, the USS Cole, in the Yemeni port of Aden. Washington has called on the Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to condemn the attack.
