Smiling Sharon and Abbas shake hands on truce deal

With their flags whipping in the wind, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas met face-to-face today to announce an end to four years of violence and offer goodwill gestures they hope will start a new era of peace talks.

Sharon and Abbas smiled broadly as they leaned across a long white table to shake hands as they met for the first time since Abbas succeeded Yasser Arafat after his November death.