Palestinian Authority [P.A.] Prime Minister Salam Fayyad did not accompany the P.L.O.’s Chief Negotiator Sa’eb Erekat today to see Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, as previously announced [ten days ago].
The meeting was held in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Jerusalem.
![Israeli PM Netanyahu receives 2 Palestinians [center] on 17 April 2012](http://www.ynetnews.com/PicServer3/2012/04/17/3871508/Untitled-1_wh.jpg)
Photo posted on YNet here and also on the website of the Israeli Foreign Ministry here – it does not look good for the Palestinians hereinvolved — is that why Salam Fayyad and Yasser Abed Rabbo did not attend?
In the morning Fayyad presided over a meeting of the P.A. cabinet in Ramallah.
By midday, as the P.A. Cabinet meeting was drawing to a close, or soon thereafter, there were hints that Fayyad might not head the delegation that delivered a long-awaited letter signed by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
But, there was then total silence for some seven hours.
Sometime between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m., the news broke, via AP [and Tweeted by @diaahadid] that Fayyad had “backed out” of the meeting, and the Palestinian side offered no public explanation.