"Thursday meeting of the Arab Peace Initiative Follow-up Committee will be an extended one for the Mubarak-Abdullah summit as the Palestinian file will be on top of the agenda," Fakhry Al- Tahtawy, a professor of political affairs at Cairo University told Xinhua.
The Arab League in May approved a U.S. offer to launch indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to revive the peace process that had stalled since Israel launched a three-week offensive in Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009.
"The upcoming meeting of the Arab Peace Initiative Follow-up Committee will make resolutions that back the moving to direct negotiations," Nabil Zaki, secretary of Arab Affairs Committee of Egypt's Al-Tagamoa Party told Xinhua.
"The reason behind the meeting is to give Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a cover to launch direct talks with the Israelis," Al-Tahtawy said.
Al-Tahtawy expected that Abbas will inform the members of the committee about the current talks with the Israelis, the Europeans or the Americans. He will review the pressure he faces and the guarantees, seeking an Arab support to start the direct negotiations with Israel.
Washington and Israel asked Abbas to resume face-to-face negotiations, which stopped in December 2008, even before the end of four-month U.S.-brokered proximity talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis that started in May.
Hani Khalaf, former assistant of Egyptian Foreign Minister told Xinhua that he expects the meeting will not come up with new things and is just to give Palestinians a legal cover to shift to the direct talks.
