LONDON, March 12: British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook on Wednesday gave details of his three-day trip to the Middle East aimed at breaking the deadlock in the peace process as part of an ``intense diplomacy'' drive.Cook's spokesman said he would visit Egypt and Jordan on Monday, the Palestinian territories and Israel on Tuesday and Syria and Lebanon on Wednesday, as a representative of the European Union of which Britain is the President.
During the visit, he will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, his office said.
Cook added that he hoped to visit the Jewish settlement at Har Homa being built in East Jerusalem on land annexed from the Palestinians. Israel's decision a year ago to start building 6,500 homes on the hilltop known as Jebel Abu Ghneim to Arabs and Har Homa to Jews brought the peace talks with the Palestinians to a standstill.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
