Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat at the northern seaside resort of Borg al-Arab, near Alexandria, an Egyptian presidential office source told AFP Tuesday.
The meeting was initially scheduled for Tuesday, but was moved to Wednesday, the source said.
Arafat is set to visit Italy August 1-2, to meet with Italian leaders and Pope John Paul II, according to Italy's foreign ministry.
The Palestinian President was due in Cairo Tuesday on the second leg of a Middle East tour aimed at pushing for an extraordinary Arab summit, said reports.
Arafat was in Tunis Monday where he held talks with President Zein El Abideen bin Ali on the latest developments in the region.
He made a brief visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. His tour also includes Algeria and Jordan.
Al Ahram Arabic daily quoted Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher as saying that Mubarak will be briefed by the Palestinian president on his evaluation of the Middle East situation and the Palestinian measures to face the continuous Israeli provocations.
The Kuwaiti official news agency (KUNA) quoted Arafat’s aide, Nabil Abu Rudeinah, as saying that the tour was to push for an extraordinary Arab summit to face the escalation of Israeli violence against the Palestinians.
Palestinian sources expected Arafat to seek holding a mini-summit that would be more swift and efficient, should a major Arab summit prove impossible – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
