Palestinian president cancels June visit to Jakarta

JAKARTA, June 9 (Reuters) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has cancelled a plan to visit Indonesia this month because of the situation at home, an Indonesian government spokesman said today.

Abbas was due to visit the world's most populous Muslim nation on June 23 and discuss the Middle East crisis with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

''We just received some communication from the Palestinian embassy that President Mahmoud Abbas has cancelled the June 23 trip because of domestic situation,'' said Indonesian foreign affairs spokesman Desra Percaya, adding no new date has been decided.

Earlier today, Percaya said Abbas would come to Jakarta with an agenda to discuss the latest developments in the Palestinian territories, including a plan to hold a referendum on a Palestinian statehood proposal implicitly recognising Israel.

A senior aid to Abbas told Reuters from the West Bank: ''He was willing to go but because of our internal situation..., he put the visit off for now''.

Abbas, who comes from the former ruling Fatah group, is expected to issue a decree tomorrow paving way for that July 31 referendum.

His rivals from Hamas, a group seeking the demise of Israel, swept legislative elections in January and took control of the executive branch late in March.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a Hamas stalwart, called on Indonesia during a visit to Jakarta last month to take a role in the troubled Middle East peace process and branded previous Abbas talks with Israel a waste.

Indonesia plans to dispatch diplomats to the Palestinian territories and is studying whether it could set up an office in Gaza.

Indonesia is legally secular and its Islamic populace is largely moderate, but many Indonesian Muslims are passionately pro-Palestinian and the government has no formal ties with Israel.

REUTERS SHR BST1551