by Wael Naguib, Emad Al-Azrak, Islam Yehia
CAIRO, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Although the Middle East peace process sounds complicate and the next step is unpredictable, analysts see that there may be some kind of breakthrough in the coming few weeks on the basis of the regional intensive diplomacy.
"There are positive indicators that the Palestinian side will go for direct negotiations with Israel," Emad Gad, an Israeli affairs expert with Egypt's Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Xinhua.
"I believe the upcoming meeting of the Arab Peace Initiative Follow-up Committee on Thursday is expected to make resolutions that back the moving to direct negotiations," Gad added.
The Arab Peace Initiative Follow-up Committee meeting will assess the indirect talks and make recommendations for another meeting of the ministers in September.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday stressed that the Palestinians are ready for direct peace negotiations with Israel, denying he is avoiding such talks.
Direct peace talks are "very possible" with the Israelis when settlement activities are frozen and negotiations start with a clear reference on the basis of creating a Palestinian state at the borders of 1967, Abbas said.
Also Jordanian King Abdullah II and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Amman on Tuesday. They talked about ways to get Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to direct negotiations with Israel.
Moreover, it is expected that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz of Saudi Arabia are to discuss on Wednesday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh the Middle East peace process.
