Arafat, Barak may meet in Oslo

Well-informed sources in occupied Jerusalem expected on Friday that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak may meet in November in Oslo on the occasion of convening the Middle East summit which is organized by Norway.

A Palestinian official who asked not to be identified stressed that Arafat had received an invitation and he accepted it, as recently stated by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for Barak, Meirav Tzadouk, said the Israeli prime minister also received the invitation, but he has not yet announced his decision, adding that Barak is expected to agree to the invitation.

The Norwegian Foreign Ministry announced at the beginning of the current month that besides Arafat and Barak, invitations were also extended to take part in the summit to US President Bill Clinton, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah of Jordan and the current President of the European Union, Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari.

This comes as a summit meeting for Arafat and Barak with US President Bill Clinton will be held, which will be convened on the margin of the summit meetings of the European security and cooperation organization that will be held in Istanbul on November 17.