Official: Arab League chief to visit Palestine
Published today 10:02
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=549933

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi will visit
Palestine on Dec. 29 to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian
Authority foreign minister said Friday.

Riyad al-Malki said al-Arabi would discuss the financial safety net pledged
by the Arab League to the Palestinian Authority to ease the West Bank
government's financial crisis.

The League has yet to deliver the pledged money, forcing banks to lend the
PA $100 million to pay November salaries to public sector employees. The PA
says the short-term loan will be repaid when money arrives from Arab
countries.

Al-Arabi will update Abbas on regional contributors to the fund, al-Malki
told Ma'an.

Al-Malki said the Arab League chief and Abbas would discuss Palestine's next
steps following its admission as a non-member state to the UN, a move that
prompted Israel to withhold the PA's revenue, exacerbating the fiscal
crisis.

The officials will also talk about a decision by the Arab League follow-up
committee to send ministerial delegations for consultations with the UN
Security Council to end Israeli settlement expansion and release Palestinian
prisoners of Israel.

Arab foreign ministers will accompany al-Arabi on the one-day visit,
al-Malki said.