His Majesty King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Palestinian factions to discard their differences and preserve Palestinian national unity and interests.

King Abdullah, who met the Egyptian president in Sharm El Sheikh after talks in Amman with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, said that unilateral moves by Israel would have grave repercussions for the region.

The two leaders reiterated that the Palestinians should be active partners in the peace process, which should proceed on the basis of the Road Map.

In a joint press conference after the meeting, Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib and his Egyptian counterpart Ahmad Abul-Gheit, Khatib said there was a “dire need for coordination [between the two countries] at this extremely crucial and sensitive stage. Khatib said the two leaders discussed means to channel aid to the Palestinians.”

The foreign minister described the Middle East Quartet's decision to release US$126 million of EU funds to the Palestinians as a positive step, but added that it was "necessary to continue to study ways to improve the mechanism with the Quartet."

The Quartet - constituted by the US, the EU, the UN and Russia - endorsed an EU proposal for a temporary mechanism to funnel aid to the Palestinians.

In an earlier meeting on Sunday King Abdullah joined the Palestinian president in expressing concern about the economic and security situation in the Palestinian territories. The King urged an end to military escalation and called for calm and the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. He also briefed the Palestinian president on his recent talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.