Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet France’s President Emmanuel Macron in Paris by the end of this week for discussions on efforts to resume peace talks, Palestine News Agency WAFA reported.
Abbas to visit France and Ireland before his official trip to New York city to attend the United Nations General Assembly meetings, Palestine’s Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki told Voice of Palestine radio on Monday.
Al-Malki said that Abbas and Macron’s meeting will focus on “the European and international response,” on what is known as “the deal of the century”, which would reach a peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis.
WAFA reported that Abbas will ask France to “explain its position from convening an international peace conference as a follow up to the decisions of the Paris conference held in January of last year.”
Moreover, the meeting will discuss “activating the decisions of the French Parliament on encouraging the French government to recognise the state of Palestine,” according to WAFA.
WAFA added that Abbas will meet “a number of officials” in Irland and address how it could help his country to hold meetings with European officials who are “interested in resume peace talks,” and opposed US President Donald Trump steps against the Palestinian people.
Abbas visit came at the request of Macron when both attended the World Cup soccer final game in Moscow, Russia on July.
According to WAFA, the two leaders were supposed to meet on the side-line of the World Cup, but the meeting did not take place as scheduled.
The US recently has taken a number of steps that angered the Palestine people. Last week, Trump administration ordered the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) offices in Washington, saying that “the PLO has not taken steps to advance the start of direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel.”
Earlier than that, the US decided to end all its funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which supports over five million Palestinian refugees.
On March this year, Trump’s administration added the finishing touches to the peace plan between Palestinians and Israelis, despite the risk that the Palestinians will reject it.
Palestinians fear they will get a little more than a symbolic foothold in Jerusalem. However, the details of the long-awaited deal has not been revealed yet.
