Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush in New York next week, a Palestinian official said Saturday _ and likely will seek to promote peacemaking and his planned coalition with Hamas militants, according to The Associated Press. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the meeting with Bush would take place Wednesday at the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. The White House would not confirm Bush-Abbas talks, but it wasn't clear whether Bush's final schedule in New York had been set. The two men last met in October 2005 in Washington.
