By Joe Macaron, KUNA,
Washington : King Abdallah of Jordan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are due to arrive in Washington on Tuesday amidst diplomatic efforts to overcome the many hurdles on the Palestinian Israeli track.
A Palestinian diplomat in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the main topics of discussion are the expansion of Israeli settlements and ways to revive the negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government.
Abbas will meet Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice twice this week, today and tomorrow, before meeting with President George W. Bush in the White House later on Thursday.
The Palestinian Authority delegation also includes Chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee Saeb Oreykat, former Prime Minister Ahmad Qurai (Abu Alaa), the member of the PLO’s Executive Committee Yasser Abd Rabbo, and Palestinian negotiator Akram Haniyah.
Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Welch is expected to attend this meeting with Abbas.
Deputy Secretary for Near East Affairs Robert Danin, who closely follows the Palestinian Israeli track, left his position and was assigned as Chief of Staff for the International Quartet envoy Tony Blair in Jerusalem.
A State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that a replacement for Danin is to be made as soon as this week due to the pace of unfolding events on the Palestinian-Israeli front.
The Bush administration is striving to meet the pledge of brokering a peace deal between the Palestinian Authority by the end of 2008.
King Abdallah, accompanied by the Chief of the Royal Hashemite Court Bassem Awadallah, is scheduled to meet with Bush tomorrow.
A statement released by the Jordanian embassy in Washington said that Abdallah comes to the White House on the invitation of Bush and the two “will discuss progress in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, the latest developments in the region and means to bolster bilateral ties between both countries”.
In the eight years of Bush’s term in office, King Abdallah came to the White House fourteen times, most recently last month.
He addressed a joint session of Congress in March 2007 to urge the United States to play a leading role in peace efforts in the region.
On the agenda of Abdallah and Abbas in Washington the Egyptian initiative to engage Hamas and Moscow’s intention to host a Middle East peace conference, five months after the US sponsored meeting in Annapolis.
Cairo is leading diplomatic efforts to break away from the stalemate in Palestinian Israeli negotiations, since Hamas took control of Gaza last June.
This three points plan to ease the tension between the Israeli government and Hamas suggest a cease fire, an exchange of around 400 Palestinian prisoner in return for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit held hostage by Hamas since June 2006, and the ease of the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul-Gheit said last week at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington that a “good progress” has been made so far on this plan.
The Palestinian side hopes the Bush administration would convince the Israeli government to go along with this initiative to set a stage for a cease fire in Gaza.
After his trip to Israel next month to participate in the anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel, Bush would likely attend a summit in Sharm al-Seikh with King Abdallah, Abbas, and Egyptian President Husni Mubarak and other Arab leaders to push forward the negotiations.
Bush attended a similar summit in the Red Sea in June 2003.