CAIRO, 23 July 2003 — Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will ask US officials to pressure Israel into fulfilling its pledges toward the peace process when he makes his maiden visit to Washington, he said here yesterday.
Abbas was in Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, before he headed to Amman for a two-day visit and then on to Washington for talks this week with US President George W. Bush.
He will meet Jordan’s King Abdallah, Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb and Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher today, sources said.
Abbas told reporters after meeting Moussa that he would ask US officials “to exert pressure on Israel to carry out its commitments and play its role in implementing the road map” which calls for a Palestinian state by 2005.
“All the demands of the Palestinian people, such as the release of prisoners and the lifting of the (economic) blockade, will be discussed with the Americans,” Abbas added.
A meeting on Sunday between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon failed, with Palestinians submitting a list of demands which Israel rejected.
The Palestinian side demanded the release of all of its estimated 6,000 prisoners, ending Israel’s siege around Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah, lifting the economic closure of the territories, and a commitment for further Israeli troop withdrawals.
The Palestinians say Israel must take these steps as part of its commitment to the road map, which was drafted by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.
After his talks late Monday with Mubarak, Abbas said a three-week-old Palestinian truce is holding but Israel must free all Palestinian prisoners from its jails if it wants “peace to prevail.”
