RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan 25 (AFP) - Mahmud Abbas is to embark this week on the first foreign trip by a Palestinian leader for over three years, heading to Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Russia, in a bid to build up international pressure on Israel.
While his predecessor Yasser Arafat was effectively confined to his West Bank headquarters for the last three years of his life, Abbas has wasted no time on taking to his travels after his January 9 election.
Officials said that talks in Egypt scheduled for Friday would be followed by an official visit to Jordan before he then heads to Moscow on Sunday and finally onto Ankara.
The destinations are seen as significant as all four countries are believed to have the ear and a degree of influence over Israel. Egypt and Jordan are the only two of Israel's neighbours to have diplomatic ties while Turkey is seen as the Jewish state's strongest ally in the Muslim world.
Before his election, Abbas also embarked on a round of shuttle diplomacy in Arab capitals but few of his destinations then had diplomatic ties with Israel.
Foreign minister Nabil Shaath, who will accompany Abbas on the tour, said the Palestinian Authority president would brief his counterparts such Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Russia's Vladimir Putin on the progress in his efforts to persuade Palestinian militants to end their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks.
Shaath said that the four-stage trip would be the first part of a diplomatic push by Abbas ahead of expected visits to the European Union headquarters in Brussels and to the White House.
Abbas has accepted an invitation to address EU foreign ministers on February 2 and has also been invited to the Washington by US President George W. Bush although no date for any summit has been arranged so far.
Russia, the United States, European Union and the United Nations make up the so-called Middle East quartet behind the "roadmap" peace plan which aims for the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.
The blueprint has made next to no progress since its launch in June 2003 but Abbas has stressed his commitment to the plan which demands to Palestinian violence.
"This is a very significant trip as it is the first one by a Palestinian leader in more than three years," the Palestinian analyst Hani al-Masri said.
"By visiting Russia, Abbas is showing that he wants to get the roadmap up and working again."
A raft of foreign ministers who have visited the Palestinian territories in the aftermath of Arafat's death on November 11 have all said that they detect a window of opportunity for a breakthrough in the Middle East conflict, four and a half years after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising.
Abbas has been trying to persuade armed factions such as Hamas to end their campaign of violence and join the political mainstream ahead of Israel's planned withdrawal from the militants' stronghold in the Gaza Strip.
A source close to Abbas said he would use the trip to brief the respective heads of government on the progress in the talks and urge them to use their influence to persuade Israel to reciprocate any ceasefire by ending its military operations in the occupied territories and free Palestinian prisoners.
Masri said that the visit would not only underline that there had been a change at the helm of Palestinian politics but also highlight the opportunities for progress in the moribund peace process.
"This visit is designed to strengthen the image that there is a possibility of a political breakthrough in the area," he added.
01/25/2005 14:18 GMT - AFP