The Spanish government is to hold talks in Spain next week with Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat on peace efforts in the Middle East, a source has said.
The talks between Mr Arafat and Spanish Prime Minister Mr Jose Maria Aznar were provisionally scheduled for next Monday, the source said.
But Palestinian officials in Ramallah were cautious and said Mr Arafat would accept the Spanish invitation once circumstances were right - an apparent reference to an Israeli travel ban on the Palestinian leader.
"They are meeting," the diplomatic source said. "We firmly intend to celebrate the meeting unless there is any impeding factor or any other decision from Arafat. The date is confirmed for Monday and the details are also confirmed".
If he goes to Spain, it would be Mr Arafat's first trip outside his Ramallah headquarters since the Israeli ban was imposed in December in the midst of Palestinian-Israeli violence that has been raging since September 2000.
Israel said on Tuesday it would allow Mr Arafat to travel only if he introduced a US truce plan and that Israel might bar his return if it judged his behaviour at an Arab summit in Beirut on March 27th as "incitement".