Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Wednesday held talks with visiting Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul- Aziz on regional issues, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, the official MENA news agency reported.

The summit was held in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el- Sheikh, where Mubarak will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on June 4.

The two leaders discussed the means to resume Palestinian- Israeli peace negotiations within the framework of Egyptian efforts to hold a tripartite summit involving Mubarak, Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Egyptian presidential spokesman Sulaiman Awwad said after a close-door meeting between the two leaders that both Egypt and Saudi Arabia called on Hamas-led Palestinian government to accept the Arab peace initiative.

The peace initiative adopted at the 2002 Arab summit in Beirut calls for normal relations with Israel if the Jewish state withdraws from territories taken in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and an independent Palestinian state is established with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Hamas, which is sworn to the destruction of Israel, has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist.

King Abdullah's visit to Egypt came within the framework of constant consultations between the two sides regarding various issues of mutual concern, said MENA.

Source: Xinhua