Haaretz
Tevet 27, 5765
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana
will observe elections for the Palestinian Authority chairmanship from
Ramallah, as part of a five-day trip to the Middle East that will end in
Israel, his office said on Friday.
"The visit will underscore the
EU's political engagement in the region," the statement said, adding that
Solana is due to meet several Palestinian leaders, including PLO Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas.
Solana's trip is scheduled to begin in Amman, Jordan
on Sunday, where he will meet King Abdullah II, before continuing to the
West Bank city of Ramallah that evening. He will remain there on
Monday.
On Tuesday Solana visits Cairo, where he will be received
by President Hosni Mubarak, and then returns to Gaza on Wednesday before
the trip ends in Israel on Thursday, where he will meet Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
An official U.S.
team, headed by senators John Sununu and Joe Biden, is also expected to
monitor the Janary 9 elections. Biden is the ranking Democrat on the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Sununu, a relatively new Republican
senator, is considered a Middle East expert; his family originated in
Lebanon.
The delegation will also include a number of Congressmen
and American public figures of Palestinian origin such as George Salem and
Ziad Assali. Its members would be accompanied by the U.S. consul general
in Jerusalem, David Pearce, the U.S. State Department said.
At the
same time, former American President Jimmy Carter arrived in the area
Thursday on behalf of the National Democratic Institute and the Carter
Center.