An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas revealed on Sunday that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had said that the United States will invite six Arab countries, including Syria, to the Middle East peace conference slated for this fall.
"Rice said Washington would invite leaders of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, in addition to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to the conference on November," said Nemmer Hammad, Abbas' advisor in Ramallah.
On last Thursday, Rice visited the West Bank, where she held talks with President Abbas.
"Rice told President Abbas during their last meeting that the United States would invite the Arab countries which are authorized by the Arab League to follow up the Middle East peace process," said Hammad.
However, Palestinian political observers doubted that Syria would attend the peace conference, citing Syria would be pressured by Iran, arch-foe of the United States, not to join.
The United State would host the Middle East peace conference in Washington in November to resume serious peace process aims at ending the Israeli-Arab conflicts.
Rice paid a 24-hour visit to Israel and the Palestinian territory on Sept. 19 and 20, aiming at laying groundwork for the international conference on Middle East peace.
Source: Xinhua
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