Palestinian official says Haneya not likely to meet Abbas in Jordan this week

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya is not likely to visit Jordan this week to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas under Jordanian sponsorship, an official said.

Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser al-Sha'er told reporters in Ramallah that "Haneya may visit Kuwait first, come back to Gaza and then go to Amman."

But preparations for the visit were underway, said al-Sha'er, confirming that an agreement was reached on the visit without setting a date.

Haneya, who left the Gaza Strip on Dec. 28, 2006 to embark on his second regional tour, is in Saudi Arabia where he made pilgrimage to Mecca and performed the hajj.

If Haneya returns to Gaza before visiting Jordan, it will take at least two weeks before he is able to travel out of Gaza again because the Rafah border crossing is opened according to Israeli orders.

Jordan had earlier offered to host a meeting between Abbas and Haneya to defuse mounting tensions between their rival Fatah and Hamas movements following Abbas' call for early legislative and presidential polls in a bid to overcome political crisis.

Source: Xinhua