Three senior officials of President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement plan to visit Washington for talks about achieving a truce with Israel in the occupied territories, they said yesterday.
Legislator Hatem Abdel-Qader said he and his colleagues had been invited by Democratic members of Congress for what would be their first US visit since the start of a three-year uprising for statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The officials were scheduled to leave early today to hold talks over three days to explore the possibility of obtaining US guarantees behind a potential ceasefire deal to calm the violence raging in the Palestinian territories.
"The aim of this visit is to try to get US guarantees to reach a mutual truce," such as a commitment to post international monitors to enforce a ceasefire, Abdel-Qader said.
The planned talks are touted to be the most prominent by Palestinians held in Washington since former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas met President George W. Bush in July.
Abdel-Qader said the delegation also has meetings planned with American Jewish leaders, David Satterfield, deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs and Dennis Ross, a former Middle East envoy who heads a think-tank called the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Abdel-Qader is to be accompanied by lawmaker Qaddoura Fares and Ahmed Ghneim, a senior Fatah official. Arafat, who is shunned by Washington, has no knowledge of the visit but "would welcome any such meeting," a senior aide, Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, said.