French foreign minister to travel to Israel, Palestinian territories

France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will travel to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan next week, his ministry said Tuesday. The trip would begin Sept. 10 to the three places, ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani said, but she gave no other details. It would be Kouchner's first trip to the region since becoming minister in May. Jordanian King Abdallah II visited Paris this week for talks on the Middle East peace process. President Nicolas Sarkozy said after meeting the king Monday that both countries' views were "identical."