An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday denied media reports that Abbas was going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next week.
"So far, there is no such a meeting on the agenda for next week," Abbas' political advisor, Nemer Hammad, told Voice of Palestine radio.
Hammad said the resumption of Abbas-Olmert meeting will be subject to the results of a three-way meeting that will be held on Thursday among Israeli and Palestinian negotiation crews and a U.S. envoy who oversees the implementation of the roadmap peace plan.
Abbas halted peace talks with Israel earlier this month following a deadly Israeli army operation in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which killed more than 125 Palestinians and injured hundreds of others.
Abbas will meet with King Abdullah of Jordan to discuss the situation before heading for Senegal to attend a summit for the Islamic countries, according to Hammad.
Earlier, Palestinian sources at Abbas' office told Xinhua that Abbas will resume contacts with the Israeli side in the middle of next week, probably on Monday, and will meet with Olmert in Jerusalem.
The sources said that Abbas faced heavy pressure from the United States, especially from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to resume the contacts with Israel.
Earlier on Sunday, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat expressed expectation that the talks could be resumed on Thursday as Israeli and Palestinian negotiation teams will hold a joint meeting with the U.S. envoy who follows up the two sides' commitments to the roadmap peace plan.
Peace talk between Israel and the Palestinian Authority led by Abbas was relaunched after an international conference hosted by the U.S. last November in Annapolis, Maryland.
U.S. President George W. Bush then expressed his hope that the two sides would reach a peace deal by the end of 2008.
At the Annapolis conference, both the Palestinian and Israeli sides had vowed to implement the U.S.-brokered roadmap plan.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article