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Arafat Cancels Due Trip to Egypt
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has cancelled a scheduled visit to Cairo on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the latest Middle East situation, the Egyptian government information service said.
The service did not elaborate why the trip was canceled. It was reported that Arafat was not coming due to the worsening situation in Gaza.
Israel launched retaliatory air strikes late Monday on Gaza City and other Palestinian areas following a bomb attack on an Israeli settlers' school bus in the Gaza Strip which killed two Israelis.
The Israeli authority held Arafat's Fatah faction responsible for the blast.
Arafat had planned to meet with Mubarak on Tuesday to deal with the ongoing confrontation between the Palestinians and Israelis, and to coordinate their stances on the issue.
Arafat, a frequent visitor to Egypt, consults regularly with Mubarak who has been playing a mediatory role in the Middle East peace process.
The two leaders last met at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh on November 14 when Arafat was on his way back to Gaza City after attending the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Doha, Qatar.
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