| Abbas to pay first visit
to Lebanon as Palestinian Authority head RAMALLAH,
West Bank, July 5 (AFP) - Mahmud Abbas is to travel to Beirut this week in his first visit
to Lebanon as president of the Palestinian Authority, a senior official said Tuesday.
Abbas is expected to hold talks with Lebanese President Emile Lahud on Friday and meet
with leaders of the 400,000 Palestinian refugees who are based in Lebanon, his national
security advisor Jibril Rajub told AFP.
The trip follows a similar visit to Beirut last December by Abbas, the first by a
Palestinian leader since the late Yasser Arafat was forced out of Lebanon a year after the
1982 Israeli invasion.
Abbas was elected as Arafat's successor at the helm of the Palestinian Authority in
January after already been named chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
The visit to Lebanon will follow a trip to neighbouring Syria where he is expected to meet
with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. |
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