PNA leader paying two-day trip to Kazan.

KAZAN, Tatarstan, January 28 (Itar-Tass) - The head of the Palestinian
National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who is staying in Kazan will on
Thursday discuss the expansion of pilgrimage ties with Tatarstan.
Abbas's two-day trip to the capital of Tatarstan was scheduled within
the framework of his working visit to Russia at the invitation of Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev.
"The high-ranking guest will begin his tour of the city on the Volga
River, which he is visiting for the first time, with a visit to the
Russian Islamic University which opened in Kazan in 1998. He will read a
lecture to the University students and professors," Mufti Gusman Iskhakov,
the chairman of the Muslim Board of Tatarstan, told Itar-Tass.
"An inter-regional pilgrimage centre, Idel-Khadzh, in Kazan and the
Palestinian leadership have agreed to open a new Hajj route for the
Muslims of Russia: to the third sacred place of Islam - the Al-Aqsa mosque
in Jerusalem," Khaidar Khamaletdinov, the centre's representative, told
Itar-Tass.
Pilgrimage to Al-Khalil where Prophet Ibrahim is buried, and to other
holy lands of the Palestinian prophets will also be discussed.
On Thursday afternoon, Mahmoud Abbas will meet Mintimer Shaimiyev, the
president of Tatarstan. They will discuss the Middle East settlement.
After that, the head of the Palestinian National Authority will see
the Kazan Kremlin, which is protected by the UNESCO. He will visit the Kul
Shairf mosque that was restored in 2005 when the city celebrated its
millennium, and a 16th -century Orthodox Church of Annunciation.
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