President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, will sit for a tripartite meeting in Cairo on Thursday, an aide to Abbas said.

In a Wednesday statement published on the governmental news agency WAFA, Abbas’ political adviser Nimer Hammad said officials would discuss the US call to start direct negotiations.

Earlier in the day, Abbas met with Mubarak in a one-on-one meeting in Cairo.

The tripartite meeting will also reportedly address the hypothetical situation if talks were to begin, and address how sides would prepare for the talks, Hammad said. It will be an opportunity for officials to exchange views and coordinate on various issues, particularly concerning the peace process he added.

Also during the meeting, Hammad explained, Abbas would brief other leaders on his most recent meeting between him and US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell.

Following the meeting, Abbas told journalists that he had set out three conditions for talks to go ahead.

First, a tripartite meeting between Israeli, Palestinian and American negotiators, where sides would jointly develop a map for the direct talks, based on a principal of a two-state solution and the boundaries as they were on 4 June 1967.

Second, Abbas said, he requested that the United States lay the groundwork for talks, and for the objectives that those talks hoped to achieve.

The final condition Abbas said he put before Mitchell, was based on a March decision by the international Middle East Quartet, and later backed by the EU, calling for negotiations on the basis of an end to occupation and respect for international laws and UN decisions.

During the news conference, Abbas was insistent that the conditions he set forward were just and based on a genuine Palestinian will to enter peace talks, but demanding assurances that Israel was also an honest participant.

"We are rational and believe in our rights and the search for peace for our people," he said.