UN chief to travel to Middle East to show support for peace talks

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UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 13 -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon will travel to the Middle East later this week to show support for the peace talks between Palestine and Israel, a spokesperson said here on Tuesday.

Ban is departing for Jordan where he will meet with King Abdullah II and the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs. After which, he will travel to the Palestinian territory of Ramallah and visit Jerusalem.

The UN chief is expected to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, and hold talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UN deputy spokesperson Eduardo del Buey told reporters here at a daily briefing.

He will also meet the lead Israeli and Palestinian negotiators and the U.S. Special Envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Martin Indyk, said del Buey.

The secretary-general will also visit the graves of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

When asked about Ban's specific message to the leaders of the two nations involved in peace talks, the deputy spokesperson said "it would be a message of support for the Middle East peace talks, " adding that "the Secretary-General is involved in the Middle East peace process as one of the principal members of the Quartet. "

The Quartet, which comprises the UN, the European Union, Russia and the United States, commits itself to the Middle East peace on the basis of the widely backed two-State solution, which means a secure State of Israel to live in peace with an independent State of Palestine.

Israel and Palestinians resumed peace talks on July 29 over an Iftar dinner hosted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. It came almost three years after the last direct talks broke down between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

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