Abbas could meet Netanyahu in Moscow

Israeli news website Ynet News revealed on Sunday that efforts are being made to get Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu together in Moscow in October. Palestinian and Israeli officials have confirmed that contact has taken place in this respect; Abbas, it is said, is “willing” to attend such a meeting.

According to Ynet, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the issue with Netanyahu during a recent phone call. Although the Israeli leader is said to be ready to meet Abbas at any time and in any place, the Moscow meeting is still, officially, “speculation”.

This development comes just a week after the Egyptian announcement that Russia is willing to host a meeting between senior Palestinian and Israeli officials. Ynet noted that Abbas prefers Russian efforts to bring him together with Netanyahu, rather than the Egyptians’, because he believes that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is planning to hold a summit in Cairo as an alternative to the Paris peace conference.

Former Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said that the government in Paris might recognise a Palestinian state if too many obstacles are placed in the way of a peace conference in the French capital.