Abbas's round on Arab, foreign states

In the course of the Palestinian diplomatic efforts for regional support, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas heads for Paris today and from there to Madrid and then Washington in a tour he started on Sunday in Jordan and Egypt in order to gather support for reviving negotiations with Israel on settling the conflict following the phase of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

In Paris, which Abbas will visit for the first time in his capacity as President of the Palestinian Authority, he will call on the French officials to play a positive and effective role inside the European Union in support of the Palestinian question and the peace process in order to reach a genuine settlement.

The Palestinian foreign minister Naser al-Qidwa expected Abbas to discuss with the French President Jack Chirac and his foreign minister Philip Dost Balazy the question of the participation of two French companies in the construction of Jerusalem subway which reaches until the two settlement quarters of Basghat Zaef.

For his part, the spokesman for the Palestinian presidency Nabil Abu Rudinah said that the Palestinian delegation will explain to the American president the steps the Palestinian authority made after withdrawal from Gaza and explain the impeding obstacles. He will demand the development of contacts between the Palestinian authority and Israel, so as to reach a phase of serious contacts for the implementation of the Roadmap peace plan, to establish a viable and geographically integrated Palestinian state, according to Bush's vision, as well as releasing the prisoners, halting settlements, and finding a solution for the Rafah crossing in Gaza without the Israeli presence.

Earlier Abbas made a telephone call with the Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz in which he discussed with the king the peace process and developments on the Palestinian arena.