Related: Iranian President Highlights Importance of UN General Assembly

               Erekat Says No Hamas Dialogue Unless it Apologies

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet U.S. President George W. Bush next week in New York ahead of the UN General Assembly meetings, Palestinian chief negotiator said on Saturday.

Saeb Erekat said the meeting with the U.S. president "is very important" for it is "a direct preparation for reaching a substance" before the November peace conference Bush proposed to help revive the deadlocked Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, designated by Abbas after firing the Hamas-led unity government, will join Abbas in the meeting with Bush.

Bush called for the conference, where the conferees are not yet specified, after Hamas violently took control of the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to Abbas and his Fatah movement.

Erekat said that all the Mideast players, including Syria and Lebanon, should be part of the conference in order to agree on “implementing the Arab peace initiative and the Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967."

"After that, we expect the international conference will inaugurate the final status negotiations," Erekat added, referring to the issues of Jerusalem, the borders and Palestinian refugees.

Meanwhile, aides of Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were in contacts to arrange a meeting between the two leaders ahead of their trips to New York, Erekat said.

Abbas and Olmert have met almost regularly in recent months in a bid to come up with something substantial to the November conference.