Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat arrived in Cairo on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,reported the News Agency, Mena. Arafat was first to attend an Iftar, the meal that breaks a ‘dawn-to-dust fast’ during the Muslim holy month of Ramazan, with intellectuals on Tuesday before holding talks on Wednesday with Mubarak, sources close to Mubarak reported.

The Palestinian leader holds regular meetings with Mubarak, who plays a key role as intermediary in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The talks will focus on the latest developments in the Middle East and the efforts made to overcome the obstacles blocking the peace process, an Egyptian foreign ministry official informed on Monday. Mubarak was also due to meet in Cairo on Wednesday with Yossi Sarid, leader of the left-wing Meretz party, who was dispatched by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Israeli Embassy Spokeswoman Ayellet Yehiav informed.

Another Barak envoy, Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, arrived in Jordan for a meeting with King Abdullah II.

A visibly fatigued Arafat earlier attended a funeral in Gaza of a top Palestinian police officer who was killed the day before, while trying to dismantle an unexploded Israeli shell. Israeli and Palestinian delegations were due to start separate consultations with us officials on Tuesday ways to revive the peace process that has been brought to its knees by 12 weeks of deadly unrest. Bureau Report