In the spring of 1996, the so-called “moderates” – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan’s King Hussein, Yasser Arafat, and even some representatives of the Gulf dynasties – convened in Sharm el-Shekh with President Bill Clinton and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a desperate bid to block radical Islam’s emergence. They were also expected to give an electoral boost to Prime Minister Shimon Peres of Israel who, severely undermined by Hamas’s devastating campaign of suicide terrorism, was on the verge of electoral defeat at the hands of Benjamin Netanyahu.
在1996年的春天，所谓的“温和派”，即埃及总统穆巴拉克、约旦国王侯赛因、阿拉法特、甚至一些海湾君主国家的代表与克林顿总统和联合国秘书长安南在沙姆沙伊赫召开会议以极力阻止伊斯兰激进组织的崛起。他们还被期望能够为佩雷斯总理在选举上助一臂之力，后者的地位因为哈马斯通过自杀性恐怖袭击发起的破坏活动而被严重削弱，从而很可能在选举中败给内塔尼亚胡。