Palestinian president to visit Lebanon

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

BEIRUT (AFP) — Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will begin a two-day visit to Lebanon on Thursday, a government official said on Sunday.

"The visit has two aspects to it. It will address Lebanese-Palestinian relations and inter-Palestinian relations," the official told AFP of the country's large refugee community.

Abbas, whose last visit to Beirut in 2004 was the first for a Palestinian official in 22 years, will meet President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and parliament speaker Nabih Berri as well as Palestinian officials.

An estimated 400,000 Palestinian refugees live in 12 camps in Lebanon.

Tensions boiled over last year when Fatah al-Islam, which adopted an ideology inspired by Al-Qaeda, waged a deadly 15-week conflict against...