Obama to assure Abbas over two-state solution
US president Barack Obama will today hold talks with the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas
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Thursday, 28, May 2009 11:29
US president Barack Obama will today hold talks with the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.
The discussions will involve negotiating a new Middle East peace deal, as they did when Mr Obama met with Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu last week.
Mr Netanyahu has already called for immediate negotiations but has so far failed to back suggestions of an independent Palestinian state, the resolution favoured by the US.
Mr Abbas, 74, loosely controls the West Bank and although his four-year term ended in January he maintains he still holds governing authority, at least until new elections are held in January next year.
Top of his priorities during today's talks is expected to be a demand for an end to Israeli settlement expansion into the West Bank, a measure which the US has also publicly backed.
Mr Obama is due to tour the Middle East next week, during which he will travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt.