Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will ask US president George W. Bush to press Israel to stop building new Jewish settlements and separation wall in the West Bank when they meet in Washington next month, Palestinian Information minister Nabil Shaath said Sunday.

Shaath made the remarks after the Highest Committee for Negotiations headed by Abbas convened Sunday for the first time since late leader Yasser Arafat died last November.

Abbas described as encouraging on Saturday US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 's expression of concern over Israeli plans to expand a Jewish settlement near Jerusalem.

In a Los Angeles Times interview published on Friday, Rice said Israel's plan to build 3,500 homes linking the settlement of Maale Adumim to Jerusalem was "at odds with American policy" and should come to a "full stop".

Source: Xinhua