Mideast leaders Sharon and Abbas to meet
Jenin official briefly abducted
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Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will meet with Israeli leader Ariel Sharon and is headed to Washington next Friday. Yasser Arafat, right, was not invited.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will meet Sunday afternoon, Palestinian sources said.
The meeting will come after the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting.
The men will be talking about steps to push along the road map to Middle East peace. Spokespeople for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom confirmed the plan to meet.
The meeting comes before Abbas embarks on his diplomatic journey to the Arab world and the United States.
Abbas will be traveling to Egypt and Jordan, and then will journey to Washington next Friday and meet with U.S. President George W. Bush.
Sharon is headed to the White House on July 29.
It is not yet known if Abbas will stay in Washington for a three-way summit with Sharon.
Martyrs Brigade beats, kidnaps official
In the West Bank on Saturday, a Palestinian official was freed by militants after he was forced from his car, beaten and abducted.
Haider Irsheid, the governor of the Jenin district in the West Bank, was released by the militants -- members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- the governor's office said. Palestinian sources said Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat intervened to obtain Irsheid's release.
The governor was driving through the center of the city of Jenin when he was kidnapped. The Jenin district includes the city of Jenin and a nearby refugee camp.
The militants accuse Irsheid of collaborating with Israel and corruption, asserting that he is holding money given to the Palestinian Authority through funds and donations and does not pass it on, Palestinian sources said.
Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade has admitted attacks on Israeli civilians and military. It is the militant wing of Arafat's Fatah movement.
