Israel's minister for regional cooperation, Shimon Peres, arrived here late Thursday on an impromptu visit to ask Morocco's King Mohammed VI for advice on how to negotiate peace in the Middle East, officials said.
Peres's unscheduled visit came only hours after planned peace negotiations in Egypt between Israel and the Palestinians were cancelled at the last minute.
The Israeli minister will ask for Mohammed VI's advice on the "current state of the peace process" and on "initiatives and propositions being examined by Palestinian and Israeli negotiators," the Moroccan news agency MAP reported.
Mohammed VI, who is president of the Al-Qods (East-Jerusalem) committee, was expected to receive Peres on Friday, according to officials.
The summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, was called off between Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat due to differences over a US proposal for a peace deal.
Arafat still traveled to Cairo, where he held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who spoke by telephone earlier with Barak -- RABAT (AFP)
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