Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the U. S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, an aide to Abbas said.
Clinton is to pay her second visit to the Middle East on the weekend, while a Palestinian official said Thursday they don't expect any tangible results from Clinton's upcoming visit to the region.
Abbas will meet Clinton as he is traveling to the United Arab Emirates on Friday.
Clinton's visit aims at bridging gaps between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to restart mutual peace negotiations.
The Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that Clinton will travel to Israel after meeting Abbas to see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who refuses to endorse a Palestinian statehood and stop Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
"The Palestinians don't build big hope or expectations on Clinton's visit due to the disappointment they feel from President Barack Obama administration," said Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Liberation
Organization's (PLO) executive committee.
"Confidence in Clinton's visit could only be restored if this round of talks expressed a U.S. political will to confront the Israeli acts, fully stop the settlements and oblige Israel into addressing the peace requirements," Ashrawi told Xinhua.
Abbas refuses to resume the peace process -- which seeks a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel -- because of the construction of the settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, two territories that would be the ground of the future statehood.
In the talks with Clinton, Ashrawi said that Abbas will reiterate his position that there will be no resumption of the negotiations until the
settlements stop and Netanyahu shows commitment to Israel's obligations under the U.S.-backed Road Map peace plan.