Jerusalem -Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted an unprecedented written peace proposal to outgoing Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert last December, the Palestinian's chief negotiator claimed on Monday. The document, sent to Washington with chief negotiator Saeb Erekat on a previously secret mission on December 18, came to nothing when Olmert failed to respond in writing, Erekat told reporters.

Ramallah  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that he has seen positive signs from United States officials regarding the two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Speaking at a press conference with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, Abbas said that "we have heard positive signals from US President (Barack) Obama, Secretary of State (Hillary) Clinton and from (special US envoy George) Mitchell on this vision."

He said that "the vision of two states is the base for a solution and which should be applied as soon as possible."

Baghdad - In a surprise visit, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday arrived in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish Autonomous Region in northern Iraq, Iraqi national television reported. Abbas arrived from Saudi Arabia, but had been in Baghdad last week. His visit to Baghdad was the first by a Palestinian president since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Last week in Baghdad, Abbas discussed the Middle East peace process and the situation of Palestinian refugees stranded on the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Riyadh - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Riyadh on Sunday for a one-day visit to discuss with Saudi King Abdullah ways to deal with the new Israeli government, diplomatic sources said. Abbas will coordinate with the Saudi monarch a strategy to approach the new right-wing government under Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects a "two-state solution" to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, diplomatic sources in the Palestinian embassy in Riyadh told the German Press Agency dpa.

Cairo- Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak met Thursday with Palestinian
President  in Cairo, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

The
two reportedly discussed the Arab-Israeli peace process in light of the
new Israeli government, the current state of negotiations aimed at
forming a Palestinian "national unity" government, and the
reconstruction of the Gaza Strip following Israel's offensive there in
December and January.

Egyptian intelligence officials have been

Baghdad - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Iraq in an unannounced visit on Sunday, in the first visit of a Palestinian official since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, an Iraqi official source told German Press Agency dpa.

Abbas had been scheduled to visit Iraq on March 28, but his visit was canceled for an undisclosed reason.

The source, who asked not to be named, said that Abbas is scheduled to meet with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani and a number of other officials.