The Palestinian Authority is asking Arab countries to boycott or downgrade their representation at the upcoming U.S.-sponsored Mideast summit in Poland.
PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki said that, at most, Arab nations should have low-profile delegations, below the ministerial level, at the conference. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are sending foreign ministers.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to depart for the summit on Tuesday. The prime minister is expected to meet senior American administration officials and deliver a speech.
Malki said the Palestinians "view the Warsaw conference as a plot against the Palestinian cause."
He spoke on Monday to the Voice of Palestine as PA President Mahmoud Abbas was to visit Saudi Arabia
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left for Europe on Sunday with fears about China and Russia's growing influence in Central Europe atop his agenda, Trump administration officials said.
Pompeo's five-nation tour of Europe will begin in Hungary and Slovakia, where he will raise those concerns and the importance of promoting democracy and the rule of law to counter Beijing and Moscow's efforts to pull the countries away from the West and sow divisions in the European Union and NATO.
The centerpiece of the trip will be the Mideast conference on Wednesday and Thursday, which is expected to focus on Iran. Also expected to attend are U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump's Mideast peace team of senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt.
After the Mideast conference in Warsaw, Pompeo will wrap up his trip with brief stops in Brussels and Reykjavik, Iceland, on Friday.
