Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will meet with Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Thursday to discuss US President Bill Clinton's proposals for peace with Israel following his meeting with Clinton, Arab officials said Wednesday.
The Arab League's assistant secretary general Ahmed Ben Helli said Arafat was to meet the ministers early Thursday, after he held talks with Clinton at the White House on Tuesday without achieving an apparent breakthrough.
"The meeting is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. (0700 GMT) but it could be delayed until later in the morning depending on the time Arafat arrives in Cairo," he said.
The ministers from Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Tunisia formed a committee which was set up at an Arab summit in October to support the Palestinians in their current uprising against Israel.
The uprising, or Intifada, broke out in late September after a controversial Israeli visit to a holy site in Arab east Jerusalem. Palestinian-Israeli peace talks had earlier stalled after a failed summit in the United States in July.
"This committee is to listen to a report from the Palestinian delegation about the US proposals and the talks that took place with President Bill Clinton before declaring its support for the Palestinian position and for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people," Ben Helli said.
Before heading into talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Mussa, the Palestinian minister for international cooperation, Nabil Shaath, told reporters that Arafat was due to travel Cairo on Wednesday -- CAIRO (AFP)
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