Date :18 Jul 2010
President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the Egyptian capital on Saturday evening where he is scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss a recent meeting with US mediators during the latest round of indirect talks with Israel.

Abbas, accompanied by chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat and presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh, is set to update Mubarak on the progress of US-brokered talks, after having met with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell in Ramallah on Saturday.

Egyptian Minister of State Mufeed Shihab received Abbas at the Cairo International Airport with the Palestinian envoy to Egypt and the Arab League Barakat Al-Farra. The president further met with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman upon his arrival.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to leave for Cairo on Sunday after heading a cabinet session and meeting with Mitchell, who returned to the region for the latest round of talks.

Netanyahu is set to discuss his recent visit to Washington, as well as the progress of peace talks.

In early July Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Gheit said the Arab League will turn to the UN Security Council to declare a Palestinian state if proximity talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials fail to achieve progress by September.

The Arab League endorsed the second round of US-brokered indirect talks with Israel in May, after they were initially derailed in March following Israel's announcement that an illegal East Jerusalem settlement would be enlarged during US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the region.

The Cairo-based body gave the talks a four-month deadline and has repeatedly called on Israel to abide by its various commitments with regard to occupied Palestinian and Syrian land, threatening to withdraw the Arab Peace Initiative on several occasions.

The US has urged Palestinian and Israeli officials to ensure that the current round of talks immediately lead to direct negotiations, which were broken off in December 2008 as Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against Gaza.

Palestinian Authority and PLO officials have maintained that re-entering direct negotiations is preconditioned on Israel's halt to settlement construction across the West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem. source: ma'an