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Sharon and Abbas at their last meeting in Sharm-a-Sheik last February. (AP file)
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| By Associated Press October 5, 2005 |
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Jordan's King Abdullah II said Palestinian and Israeli leaders will meet next Tuesday to revive Mideast peacemaking.
A statement issued by Abdullah's press office late Wednesday said the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas "is in response to the king's efforts to push forward the peace process."
It did not say where the meeting would take place nor whether the Jordanian king would attend. It noted that Abdullah made separate telephone calls to Sharon and Abbas earlier in the day.
A senior Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the timetable is not final, said a senior aide to Sharon, Dov Weisglass, would meet with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Friday, to try to bring about a Sharon-Abbas summit next week, possibly on Tuesday.
Erekat confirmed the meeting with Weisglass on Friday.
The Sharon-Abbas meeting would be the first between the two men since Israel pulled all of its settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip in an operation that was concluded in early September. They had been scheduled to meet Oct. 2, but that summit was canceled following Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel and a retaliatory Israeli military offensive in Gaza and the West Bank.
The two men had been expected to meet before Abbas' scheduled Oct. 20 trip to the United States, where he is to visit with President George W. Bush, who is eager to achieve progress on the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.
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