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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Erekat: Abbas to meet Syrian president |
| 2010-01-11 |
| [Ma'an] President Mahmoud Abbas received an official invitation to Damascus from Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat announced on Sunday during an interview on Ma'an radio. Abbas will leave for Syria in the coming days, Erekat said, where he will discuss recent developments in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Middle East peace process. Erekat refuted what he termed rumors about a possible meeting between Abbas and senior-most Hamas leader Khalid Mash'al during his forthcoming visit, insisting that "there will not be any meetings between Mash'al and Abbas' aides." Erekat further said that he had traveled to Syria two weeks ago to meet with Syrian officials and denied allegations that the visit was related to secret negotiations to complete the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal. Abbas began a tour of the Middle East last Sunday in Jordan where he met with King Abdullah II, following which he traveled to Egypt to meet with President Hosni Mubarak where he reiterated the PLO's position that Israel must stop expanding West Bank settlements before Palestinians would be willing to renew peace talks. "We are not imposing conditions; this is clear. But we have previously stated and will repeat that as soon as settlement construction stops we will resume negotiations immediately," he told journalists after a meeting with Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm Ash-Sheikh. The tour, including Qatar and Kuwait, was intended to discuss the renewal of peace talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, in a bit to pressure Israel into making concessions in negotiations with Palestinians, US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell announced on American PBS on Saturday that the US was prepared to withhold loan guarantees, which in turn prompted an irate response from Israeli officials, including the prime minister. "Everyone realizes that the Palestinian Authority refuses to renew peace talks, while Israel took significant steps to advance the process," a statement issued by the Israeli prime minister's office asserted. |
| Posted by:Fred |