JERUSALEM, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres will meet with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday to discuss regional peace efforts and Egyptian-mediated contacts to extend a Gaza truce, an Israeli official said on Monday. Mubarak invited Peres by telephone and the two will meet in the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the official said. There was no immediate comment from Cairo. As president, Peres' role is mainly ceremonial and he lacks any official authority in U.S.-backed peace efforts but he wields some influence as winner of a Nobel peace prize for his role in achieving a 1993 accord with Palestinians. His talks in Egypt also come at a transitional phase for Israel, whose prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is serving in a caretaker capacity since he resigned last month in the shadows of a corruption probe. The official said Peres wants to explore the possibility of extending a June truce that has largely calmed Israel's border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Hamas Islamists say the deal mediated by Egypt could expire in December. Peres also plans to propose widening the circle of Israel's peace talks beyond the Palestinians and Syria to include other Arab countries that do not have ties with the Jewish state, the official said. Israel's talks with the Palestinians appear likely to miss a U.S. objective of reaching at least a limited accord before President George Bush leaves office in January. Peres envisages negotiating a comprehensive deal with Arab countries rather than pursuing separate agreements with either the Palestinians or Syria, with which Israel has held some indirect talks in the past year, the official said. Egypt in 1979 became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, followed by Jordan in 1994. (Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Editing by Sami Aboudi)
An Israeli man sits inside a cage during a rally calling for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in front of Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak's home in Tel Aviv ...
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