Al- Assad, Arafat to meet on the sideline of the Arab summit

Former chairman of the Palestinian National Council Khaled al-Fahoum said in a statement to the London- based al-Sharq al-Awsat daily issued on Monday that the meeting between President Bashar al-Assad and the chairman of the Palestinian Authority will be held in Amman on the sideline of meetings of the forthcoming Arab summit.

Al-Fahoum quoted the Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Shara as saying that Arafat can visit Damascus after the Arab summit in Amman and that the meeting between President al-Assad and Arafat in Amman will be long, political and in depth.

Meantime, the Monte Carlo radio on Monday quoted sources which it did not specify saying that King Abdullah of Jordan is making intensive efforts to convene a nearby summit meeting between President Bashar al-Assad and the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat.