Arafat in Cairo today to discuss peace developments in the area

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is to arrive tonight in Cairo to hold talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak concerning the latest developments in the peace process and the current impasse.

President Arafat met on Thursday night in the West Bank city of Ramallah with Mohammed Bassiouni, Egypt's ambassador in Israel.

Farouk Qaddoumi, head of the political department in the Palestinian Liberation Organization, arrived yesterday evening on his tour in which he has visited Lebanon and Syria.

Qaddoumi will meet with Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa.

This comes as Dennis Ross, the US envoy for the peace process, arrives today in Amman to meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan to discuss the hardships confronting the peace process, said a Jordanian official.