Abbas ends a political tour

Chairman of the Palestine Liberation organization (PLO) Mahmoud Abbas ended a diplomatic tour that lasted 8 days during which he visited 8 Arab states.

In the tour in which he was accompanied by the prime minister Ahmad Qurei, Abbas visited each of Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

Abbas arrived in Ramullah after he had stopped in Amman in a short visit to brief the officials there on the results of his Gulf visit. This tour was considered the first for the PLO chairman abroad since he assumed responsibility following the death of the chairman of the Palestinian authority Yasser Arafat on November 2004.

Concerning the Palestinian presidential elections, the Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Oreikat said that the Israeli and Palestinian sides agreed to have the election according to arrangements of the former voting in 1996 which permitted the Palestinians of East Jerusalem to take part through casting their votes in five Israeli ballot centers.

Oreikat said in conclusion of a Palestinian- Israeli meeting over making the elections that the two sides agreed during the meeting to convene a plenary meeting this week including security men, and experts in the field of elections in order to ensure free and honest elections.

Oreikat did not explain if a change occurred in the Israeli position announced by the Israeli defense minister Shaoul Mofaz last week to that the Israeli army will withdraw only for 72 hours from the Palestinian cities, before, during and after the elections.