A high-ranking Egyptian delegation is poised to travel to Washington under the directives of President Hosni Mubarak for consultations on the deteriorating situation in the Occupied Territories, said Al Ahram daily on Tuesday.
Mubarak’s decision was taken following a meeting with senior officials, including Defense Minister Mohammed Tantawi and Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, as well as Mubarak’s political advisor, Osama Al Baz, and Egypt’s ambassador to the US, Nabil Fahmi.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will meet in Cairo Wednesday with the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan and Arab League chief Amr Moussa to discuss a response to Israel's seizure of Palestinian offices in Jerusalem, said reports.
The talks will take place on the sidelines of an emergency meeting of Arab information ministers to "examine Arab and international steps to take faced with Israel's practices in Jerusalem," Moussa said Monday.
At the same time, Jordan is trying to lay the groundwork for a meeting Thursday of the Arab League's committee on the Palestinian uprising to discuss Israel's occupation of Orient House, the PLO's unofficial headquarters in occupied Jerusalem, and other Palestinian offices.
Moussa said Wednesday's four-way meeting in Cairo was "not an alternative to a meeting of the follow-up committee" on the 10-month-old uprising against 34 years of Israeli occupation, but was intended to "examine the best way to face the dangerous situation in the Occupied Territories."
Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
