Olmert to discuss convergence plan with Mubarak on Sunday: reports

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will present his convergence plan to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for the first time during their planned meeting on Sunday, local media reports said here Saturday.

Olmert is expected to try and win Mubarak's understanding or even support for the unilateral withdrawal from part of the West Bank should negotiations fail, according to the reports.

"We shall act independently, but not alone" and "we shall try to create the momentum of a process even if the other side is not Palestinian," local popular newspaper Yediot Aharonot quoted Olmert as saying in a recent interview.

In his recent remarks, Olmert said that he hoped for understanding from the United States, the European Union, Egypt and Jordan.

Sunday's meeting in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh will take place in the shadow of Friday's Israeli killing of two armed men on the Israel-Egypt border.

Egyptian police identified the two men killed after attacking Israel Defense Forces troops (IDF) as Egyptian security personnel.

Defense Minister Amir Perez has instructed security forces to coordinate a joint investigation with their Egyptian counterparts into the killings.

Shooting incidents on the Israel-Egypt border are rare. The IDF has intensified its presence along the border in the last two years, mainly to prevent smugglings of weapons as well as the infiltration of suicide bombers.

Source: Xinhua