Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas was preparing today for the
diplomatic boost of an official visit to Washington next week,
while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon mulled an unsuccessful
trip to persuade European leaders to sideline Yasser Arafat.
Sharon flew in from Norway late yesterday, after failing to convince his Norwegian counterpart Kjell Magne Bondevik to sever ties with veteran Palestinian leader Arafat.
The rebuff was the second in days for Sharon, after receiving a similar response from British officials earlier in the week.
"Arafat is a leader elected by the Palestinian people and we have no plans to change our policy," Bondevik said following Sharon's visit to his hometown of Molde.
Meanwhile Abbas accepted an invitation to meet US President George W Bush in Washington later this month in a move designed to give momentum to the troubled peace process and bound to boost the Palestinian Prime Minister's profile on the world stage.
The meeting will take place on July 25 with talks expected to focus on the US-backed roadmap for peace, which aims to create an independent Palestinian state by 2005, a statement from the premier said.
"This visit will be centred on the commitments made by Israel to freeze settlements in the progress in the peace process," the statement added.
There was no immediate confirmation of the meeting from the White House but a US official said July 25 was the target date for the encounter.
"That's the date we're looking at," the official said.
"It's not set in stone, it could change, but right now the 25th is what we're planning on".
Abbas's first visit to Washington is expected to give a major fillip to the peace process and will take place around the same time as a similar trip by Sharon, who has also been invited by Bush to visit the White House at the end of the month.
Many observers had predicted that Abbas would not accept any invitation to Washington while Arafat continues to be confined to his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
The US and Israel have refused to have any contact with Arafat, choosing only to talk with the more moderate Abbas.
Arafat and Abbas have been at loggerheads over the approach to the peace talks with Israel.
Abbas, who was appointed in April by a reluctant Arafat after international pressure, has come under fire from members of their Fatah movement who are angered in particular by his failure to persuade Israel to free more than 350 of the estimated 6 000 Palestinians currently in Israeli jails.
But former Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat, a key Arafat ally, said Abbas's Washington trip had the Palestinian leader's "complete blessing".
The invitation to Abbas was first made on June 28 during a visit to the region by US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Sharon and Abbas met with Bush at the Jordanian resort of Aqaba on June 4 when the roadmap for peace was launched.
The declaration of a three-month truce by the major Palestinian radical groups late last month and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from most of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Bethlehem had raised hopes for the roadmap.
But the peace process has since run into trouble over the prisoners issue and continued violence such as the fatal stabbing of a club doorman in Tel Aviv by a Palestinian militant, albeit on a smaller scale than before the truce.
A Palestinian teenager was killed and another wounded yesterday as they handled explosives in the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian medics said.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on the plane carrying the prime minister back to Israel, spoke in upbeat terms of the European trip, saying it had allowed British and Norwegian leaders "to have a better idea of the extent of Arafat's harmful influence".
The official said that Israel does not plan to allow the Palestinian leader to move about freely, as he "causes less damage when he is held in his headquarters in Ramallah and so he will stay there".
Norway told Sharon he would only remain loyal to Arafat on certain conditions.
"It is important that Arafat does not undermine, but rather consolidates, the position of Mahmud Abbas" in the peace process, Bondevik said. - Sapa-AFP.
Sharon flew in from Norway late yesterday, after failing to convince his Norwegian counterpart Kjell Magne Bondevik to sever ties with veteran Palestinian leader Arafat.
The rebuff was the second in days for Sharon, after receiving a similar response from British officials earlier in the week.
"Arafat is a leader elected by the Palestinian people and we have no plans to change our policy," Bondevik said following Sharon's visit to his hometown of Molde.
Meanwhile Abbas accepted an invitation to meet US President George W Bush in Washington later this month in a move designed to give momentum to the troubled peace process and bound to boost the Palestinian Prime Minister's profile on the world stage.
The meeting will take place on July 25 with talks expected to focus on the US-backed roadmap for peace, which aims to create an independent Palestinian state by 2005, a statement from the premier said.
"This visit will be centred on the commitments made by Israel to freeze settlements in the progress in the peace process," the statement added.
There was no immediate confirmation of the meeting from the White House but a US official said July 25 was the target date for the encounter.
"That's the date we're looking at," the official said.
"It's not set in stone, it could change, but right now the 25th is what we're planning on".
Abbas's first visit to Washington is expected to give a major fillip to the peace process and will take place around the same time as a similar trip by Sharon, who has also been invited by Bush to visit the White House at the end of the month.
Many observers had predicted that Abbas would not accept any invitation to Washington while Arafat continues to be confined to his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
The US and Israel have refused to have any contact with Arafat, choosing only to talk with the more moderate Abbas.
Arafat and Abbas have been at loggerheads over the approach to the peace talks with Israel.
Abbas, who was appointed in April by a reluctant Arafat after international pressure, has come under fire from members of their Fatah movement who are angered in particular by his failure to persuade Israel to free more than 350 of the estimated 6 000 Palestinians currently in Israeli jails.
But former Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat, a key Arafat ally, said Abbas's Washington trip had the Palestinian leader's "complete blessing".
The invitation to Abbas was first made on June 28 during a visit to the region by US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Sharon and Abbas met with Bush at the Jordanian resort of Aqaba on June 4 when the roadmap for peace was launched.
The declaration of a three-month truce by the major Palestinian radical groups late last month and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from most of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Bethlehem had raised hopes for the roadmap.
But the peace process has since run into trouble over the prisoners issue and continued violence such as the fatal stabbing of a club doorman in Tel Aviv by a Palestinian militant, albeit on a smaller scale than before the truce.
A Palestinian teenager was killed and another wounded yesterday as they handled explosives in the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian medics said.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on the plane carrying the prime minister back to Israel, spoke in upbeat terms of the European trip, saying it had allowed British and Norwegian leaders "to have a better idea of the extent of Arafat's harmful influence".
The official said that Israel does not plan to allow the Palestinian leader to move about freely, as he "causes less damage when he is held in his headquarters in Ramallah and so he will stay there".
Norway told Sharon he would only remain loyal to Arafat on certain conditions.
"It is important that Arafat does not undermine, but rather consolidates, the position of Mahmud Abbas" in the peace process, Bondevik said. - Sapa-AFP.
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