Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will visit the Palestinian territories even though his trip to Israel has been canceled due to an Israeli Foreign Ministry strike, the Kremlin said in a statement, according to AP. The Kremlin statement, released late Tuesday, said Israeli President Shimon Peres had apologized to Medvedev for the inability to prepare for his visit in mid-January. During their telephone conversation, the two presidents agreed to meet during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, at the end of the month, the Kremlin and Peres' office said. The Kremlin did not say Wednesday whether Medvedev planned to visit the West Bank, Gaza or both. But in a statement, Peres said Medvedev would be meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ariha. -- SPA
