Secretary of State Colin Powell is planning to meet in Aqaba, Jordan with leaders of Russia, the European Union and the United Nations in a bid to repair the road map for peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians, U.S. and diplomatic sources said Thursday, according to AP.
The tentative date is June 22, coinciding with a World Economic Forum at the Jordanian seaport, but final arrangements have not been made.
Powell will be joined by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Senior European Union officials also were invited. The group, known as a Quartet, devised the road map. Powell plans to go to Jordan toward the end of a one-week trip to Asia due to start next Monday.
On Thursday, Powell urged the international community to fight Palestinian groups like Hamas.
"I've been on the phone most of the morning talking to the leaders in the region, to encourage them to come down hard on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the other terrorist organisations that are determined to deny us this latest opportunity for peace," Powell was quoted as saying.
(Albawaba.com)
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