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Abul-Gheit:Abu Mazen to visit Cairo soon for continuing dialogue with Palestinian factions
Amidst positive indications that Mahmoud Abbas, the chairman of the Palestinian Authority has managed to contract differences with the Palestinian factions for concluding a conditional truce that could open the door before settlement process, the Palestinian Authority called on the Israeli government to return back to negotiations table to coordinate a joint declaration on mutual halt of violence between the two sides, in conformity with the roadmap peace plan.
It expressed hope that Israel would positively respond to the expected results of the inter-Palestinian dialogue which is scheduled to be held in Cairo.
Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit, yesterday said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would visit Cairo early next week, adding that contacts were currently underway on preparations for the visit.
He said Egypt has been informed of the progress of dialogue between the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian factions.
He said Abu Mazen would follow up during the visit his dialogue with Palestinian factions, indicating that Cairo would host such a dialogue.
Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Minister of Negotiations Affairs said in statements yesterday that the first stage of the roadmap peace plan obliges Israel to bring things back as they were on September 20, 2000, to release detainees, to bring back deportees and to halt settlement activities.
He said negotiations were underway with the Israeli side on the developments in Gaza, but there were no meetings.
He said the PA wants to convene a meeting between the two sides to start negotiations for launching a significant peace process at the beginning of which a mutual ceasefire would be announced between the two sides.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050125/2005012526.html
Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit, yesterday said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would visit Cairo early next week, adding that contacts were currently underway on preparations for the visit.
He said Egypt has been informed of the progress of dialogue between the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian factions.
He said Abu Mazen would follow up during the visit his dialogue with Palestinian factions, indicating that Cairo would host such a dialogue.
Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Minister of Negotiations Affairs said in statements yesterday that the first stage of the roadmap peace plan obliges Israel to bring things back as they were on September 20, 2000, to release detainees, to bring back deportees and to halt settlement activities.
He said negotiations were underway with the Israeli side on the developments in Gaza, but there were no meetings.
He said the PA wants to convene a meeting between the two sides to start negotiations for launching a significant peace process at the beginning of which a mutual ceasefire would be announced between the two sides.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050125/2005012526.html
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While his predecessor Yasser Arafat was effectively confined to his West Bank headquarters for the last three years of his life, Abbas has wasted no time on taking to his travels after his Jan. 9 election.
Officials said that talks in Egypt scheduled for Friday would be followed by an official visit to Jordan before he then heads to Moscow on Sunday and finally onto Ankara.
The destinations are seen as significant as all four countries are believed to have the ear and a degree of influence over Israel. Egypt and Jordan are the only two of Israel's neighbors to have diplomatic ties while Turkey is seen as the Jewish state's strongest ally in the Muslim world.
Before his election, Abbas also embarked on a round of shuttle diplomacy in Arab capitals but few of his destinations then had diplomatic ties with Israel.
Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, who will accompany Abbas on the tour, said the Palestinian Authority president would brief his counterparts such Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Russia's Vladimir Putin on the progress in his efforts to persuade Palestinian militants to end their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks.
Shaath said that the four-stage trip would be the first part of a diplomatic push by Abbas ahead of expected visits to the European Union headquarters in Brussels and to the White House.
Abbas has accepted an invitation to address European Union foreign ministers on Feb. 2 and has also been invited to the Washington by U.S. President George W. Bush although no date for any summit has been arranged so far.
"This is a very significant trip as it is the first one by a Palestinian leader in more than three years," Palestinian analyst Hani al-Masri said.
"By visiting Russia, Abbas is showing that he wants to get the 'road map' up and working again," he added.
Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations make up the so-called Middle East "Quartet" behind the road map peace plan, which aims for the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.
The blueprint has made next to no progress since its launch in June 2003 but Abbas has stressed his commitment to the plan which demands to Palestinian violence.
A raft of foreign ministers who have visited the Palestinian territories in the aftermath of Arafat's death on Nov. 11 have all said that they detect a window of opportunity for a breakthrough in the Middle East conflict, four and a half years after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising.
A source close to Abbas said he would use the trip to brief the respective heads of government on the progress in talks with armed factions such as Hamas to end their campaign of violence and urge them to use their influence to persuade Israel to reciprocate any cease-fire by ending its military operations in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and free Palestinian prisoners.
Masri said that the visit would not only underline that there had been a change at the helm of Palestinian politics but also highlight the opportunities for progress in the moribund peace process.
"This visit is designed to strengthen the image that there is a possibility of a political breakthrough in the area," he added.
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=12075