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Abbas postpones trip to UN, plans to meet with Sarkozy to discuss ceasefire |
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Sunday, 4 January 2009Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday postponed a planned trip to the United Nations headquarters in New York on account of the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki told Ma’an in a phone call from the Jordanian capital city of Amman that Abbas will be at the PA headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday.
Abbas will return to meet French President Nikolas Sarkozy, who has proposed a ceasefire in Gaza that that would involve the opening of Gaza’s Israeli-blockaded crossing points.
Abbas’ PA holds power in parts of the West Bank and currently has no control over the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip.
Al-Maliki, who is accompanying president Abbas in Jordan said Sarkozy will be visiting Ramallah to help in an international effort to put an immediate end to the ongoing Israeli offense. Mr Al Maliki will be going to the UN on Sunday upon request from President Abbas to prepare for the UN Security Council taking place on Monday.
According to Al-Maliki, the Arab foreign ministers will join Abbas at the Security Council to advocate for an Arab-drafted proposal that deploy international forces in Gaza and end Israeli control of Gaza’s borders.
However, Al-Maliki told Ma’an the PA is still waiting for Hamas’ approval of the president’s call for all Palestinian factions to enter immediate direct talks with one another.
He also dismissed Israeli reports suggesting that the president has called for the release of Hamas prisoners from PA prisons in the occupied West Bank.
“The president did not call for such a thing, we don’t have political prisoners, but people are arrested for attempts to interrupt order,” he said. |
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Ma'an News
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