A senior Israeli foreign ministry official is due Tuesday for two days of talks about the worsening Middle East situation, an Israeli embassy spokeswoman in Ankara said Monday.
Alon Liel, a ministry undersecretary, is to brief "the Turkish side on the negative developments in the Middle East, especially after the Arab summit in Cairo," the spokeswoman said.
Arab leaders meeting in Cairo at the weekend offered financial and moral support to the Palestinians, but stopped short of severing ties completely with Israel.
In its wake, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak suspended the peace process with the Palestinians brokered by the United States.
Liel, who served as charge d'affaires in Turkey in the 1980s, is scheduled to meet Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and his Turkish counterpart Faruk Logoglu on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, he will have talks with former president Suleyman Demirel and the head of the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs commission, Kamran Inan, before leaving on Thursday.
Predominantly Muslim but secular Turkey, which has close ties both with Israel and the Palestinians, has repeatedly urged the two sides to end the violence and resume talks -- ANKARA (AFP)
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