Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat left Gaza Tuesday for Paris, for a meeting with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in a bid to calm the violence that has rocked the West Bank and Gaza Strip since Friday, Palestinian officials said.
Arafat will also have a face-to-face meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, secretary general of the Palestinian Authority Tayeb Abdel Rahim told AFP, contradicting Palestinian international relations minister Nabil Shaath, who said the time was not right for such a meeting.
Arafat and Barak will also have separate meetings with French President Jacques Chirac.
Barak's office in Jerusalem said Barak would leave for Paris Wednesday morning.
Five days of violence in the Palestinian territories and the Arab areas of northern Israel have left 63 people dead -- GAZA CITY (AFP)
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