By Xinhua
Cairo : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived here on Monday evening for talks with Egyptian leaders over an upcoming Mideast peace conference to be held in the United States, the MENA news agency reported.
Abbas is scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments on the Palestinian arena and efforts to push forward the Middle East peace process, MENA said.
The two leaders will tackle the situation in the Palestinian territories and Palestinian-Israeli talks ahead of the U.S.-proposed international peace conference scheduled to be held in Annapolis, Maryland of the United States in late November or early December.
Abbas flew into the Egyptian capital following a one-day visit in Kuwait, during which he held talks with Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on the upcoming peace conference amid Arab nations’ scepticism about the meeting.
In July, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed to hold the peace conference in the United States this fall to find a way to resume the stalled peace process and end the chronic Middle East conflict between the Arabs and Israel.
However, some Arab leaders doubt if the meeting will address the core issues, including control over Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and borders of the future Palestinian state.
Some even describe the international conference as an attempt to whitewash the image of the United States, which was heavily damaged owing to the U.S.-led Iraq War.