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AL Secretary General visit to West Bank postponed: PNA

Xinhua, June 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

The visit of the Arab League Secretary General Nabil Arabi to the West Bank scheduled on Tuesday was postponed until a further notice, an official Palestinian statement said Monday.

Arabi was scheduled to visit in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday to hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Then it was postponed to Tuesday and then it was postponed until a further notice.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Presidency announced in an official statement that the visit of Arabi was postponed until a new date for the visit is decided. It didn't clarify what was the reason for the postponement of the visit.

However, a senior official speaking on condition of territories, told Xinhua that the reason for postponing the visit of the Arab League Secretary General was due to facing a difficulty in coordinating his visit to the West Bank.

"All the attempts of finalizing the security coordination for Arabi's visit to the West Bank with the Israeli side had failed," said the official.

Meawhile, Majd al-Khaldi, a diplomatic advisor for President Abbas told Xinhua that a specific date for the visit of Arabi to the West Bank hasn't been yet decided.

Earlier, Palestinian minister of foreign affairs Reyad al-Malki told Voice of Palestine Radio that the postponement of the visit was related to the difficulties of coordination with the Israeli side to ensure the visit of Arabi to Ramallah.

He said that the PNA coordinated with the Israeli side to allow a Jordanian helicopter to carry Arabi from Amman to Ramallah directly, adding that "but the Israeli side didn't give a direct and a clear answer to the Palestinian side.

Arabi was scheduled to discuss with the Palestinian side the French initiative and the coordination to hold an international conference for peace in the Middle East. Endit