Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will not attend Wednesday's Arab summit, widely seen as a forum for Arab nations to express unified support for a Saudi mideast peace plan. 

No official reason has been given for Mr. Mubarak's decision to stay home. Tuesday's Egyptian announcement comes as Israeli and Palestinian officials continued to study an interim U.S. ceasefire plan ending 18 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. 

Israel says the ceasefire must be in place before it will allow detained Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to attend the Arab League summit in Beirut. Israel has confined the Palestinian leader to the West Bank since December. 

It remains unclear whether any temporary truce deal is possible before the Arab summit opens Wednesday in Beirut. And it is not clear whether Mr. Arafat will choose to go if Israel grants him permission to do so. 

The Saudi permanent peace plan calls for all Arab nations to normalize relations with the Jewish state, in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Mideast War. 

Heads of state from at least 10 of the 22-member Arab League nations are not expected to attend the summit. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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