Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to visit Washington for talks with President George W. Bush on May 26, diplomatic sources said on Friday.
Bush has invited Abbas to the White House on January 10, the next day Abbas was elected as the second Palestinian President, but the meeting has been since then delayed without known reasons.
It is believed that both sides wanted to have more progress in reforming and democratizing the Palestinian areas before the meeting.
Abbas has recently invested serious efforts to advance the implementation of road map commitments, including the disarming of resistance groups in the cities of Jericho and Tul-Karim, which were handed to the Palestinian Authority a month ago.
Yet, the truce between the Israelis and the Palestinians continued to be shaky and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Israel officials continued to incite against Abbas, saying he was not doing enough.
Bush administration officials explained that it was a matter of finding a mutually agreeable time for the leaders to meet.
Bush met with Sharon last month at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
