King Abdullah II of Jordan will visit the West Bank on Wednesday, in an unexpected trip, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said on Tuesday.
ÂÂ
‘King Abdullah II will be visiting us, He is welcome here’ Qurei said, but refrained from providing further information.
ÂÂ
King Abdullah has already canceled or postponed two planned trips to the region since September, apparently because of Jordanian annoyance over pre-publication of the visit.
ÂÂ
Last October, the Jordanian News Agency (Petra) reported that the Jordanian monarch will visit Israel and meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
ÂÂ
The king will meet with Palestinian officials, yet it unclear yet whether he will meet with Israeli officials.
ÂÂ
King Abdullah and Israeli Prime Minister met during the UN General Assembly meeting in New York. The Jordanian monarch held a secret meeting with Sharon at his Negev ranch in March 2004 in which the two leaders discussed the Separation Wall.
ÂÂ
If the Jordanian monarch visited the region, it would be the first public visit to a Jordanian King to the Palestinian territories since 1967 after Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
