Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday met in Amman with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Earlier, it was reported that Barak flew to Jordan at the end of a weekly cabinet meeting where he met with Jordan's King Abdullah II and then returned home to brief Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the results of this meeting and went again in the evening to the Jordanian capital, accompanied by several of his advisers to meet with Abbas and two of his aides.
An Israeli security source said Barak maintains close ties with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and met him recently in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in preparation for the launch of direct negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian sides.
