Arab Ministers Review Abdullah Plan

CAIRO: Arab ministers and officials met at the Arab League yesterday to follow up on a plan initiated by Crown Prince Abdullah that seeks to end 19 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Progress on new peace initiatives has stalled amid Israeli incursions into Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank.

Arab League officials said foreign ministers from the Kingdom, Jordan, Yemen and Bahrain met with senior PLO official Farouq Qaddoumi, as well as Morocco’s transport minister, the permanent League representatives of Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, and League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

The meeting was held in closed session.

League spokesman Hesham Youssef said there was no set agenda for the meeting, but the group would review the outcome of the recent visit of Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, to the United States.

US President George W. Bush met with Crown Prince Abdullah late last month, and officials said they agreed on a joint effort to ease Middle East tension by getting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to halt Israeli attacks and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to take steps to curb bombings.