Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Solomon Passy who is on a Middle East tour will not meet with either Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon or with the Palestinian President Yesser Arafat.
"Bulgaria does not want to fuel the conflict so these meetings were cancelled," a spokesman of the ministry in Sofia said. According to Passy, the decision was made after consultations with officials of the European Union. The planned meeting of Minister Passy in the Israeli Parliament was also taken off the agenda.
Meanwhile Israeli daily Haarertz reported New Zealand's Foreign Minister Phil Goff who is in Israel alike his Bulgarian counterpart, said Tuesday he planned to meet Yasser Arafat later this week despite opposition from Tel Aviv.
Minister Solomon Passy started Monday a tour in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan following the successful military operation in Iraq, which Sofia supported. Even before it began, the trip proved thorny as media reports in Israel heralding the visit predicted that the Bulgarian foreign minister would be refused a meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon if he opts for an interview with Yasser Arafat.
This is a proviso that is meant not only for Bulgaria, a foreign ministry spokesman said in Sofia. "There is stipulation that who ever meets with one of the sides cannot meet with the other," the spokesman added.
The initial plan suggested that Passy would pay official visit to Tel Aviv staring on Monday. On May 28, Passy was to meet in Ramallah with officials of the Palestinian Authority.
What still remains unchanged in the plan is the agenda in Jordan. Just days after Passy visited Jordan in early May, he will go back to open a Bulgarian-Jordanian business forum on the post-war reconstruction of Iraq.