GAZA CITY (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to hold talks with the new Palestinian leadership on a visit to the West Bank next week, Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath told AFP.
"Colin Powell is coming to the Palestinian territories -- Ramallah and probably Gaza -- on the 23rd (of November) to meet with the Palestinian leadership," Shaath said.
Shaath said Powell would hold talks with the new Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman Mahmud Abbas and the prime minister Ahmed Qorei during his visit.
"He is going to meet with all the leaders -- Abu Mazen (Abbas), Abu Alaa (Qorei) and all the officials. We will have a series of talks."
US President George W. Bush has said that last week`s death of veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who was boycotted by the White House, was an opportunity to open a new chapter in the Middle East peace process.
Both Abbas and Qorei are seen as relative moderates and, unlike Arafat, have been accorded audiences with senior Bush administration officials, although neither man commands broad popular support among Palestinians.
Shaath acknowledged that the meeting reflected a concern about the situation in the territories in the post-Arafat era.
Abbas escaped unhurt on Sunday evening when gunmen opened fire in a mourning tent in Gaza for Arafat.
"People outside are concerned about us," he said.
A senior State Department official said on condition of anonymity last week that Powell was "looking at the possibility of travelling to Israel and the Palestinian areas" but gave no details.
Powell is scheduled to attend an international conference on Iraq to be held in Egypt November 22-23.
11/15/2004 - 11:30 GMT - AFP