Mitchell to Meet Abbas for the First Time

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas will be having his first meeting with U.S. envoy George Mitchell this week:

"President Abbas will meet with (George) Mitchell on Tuesday at around midday (0900 GMT)," the official told AFP.

A spokesman for the US embassy confirmed Mitchell was due to return to the region "within days" but he could not say exactly when he would arrive, nor did he have details of the envoy's schedule.

Mitchell left the region a week ago after managing to secure the agreement of both Israel and the Palestinians to begin an initial round of US-mediated "proximity talks."

The indirect negotiations had been due to start in March but were delayed over a row about Jewish settlement activity in annexed east Jerusalem.

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