Abbas ready to meet with Netanyahu under Trump’s ‘auspices’

The president of the Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday that he is willing to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu under “the auspices” of Donald Trump, various news agencies have reported.

Speaking to journalists in the presence of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Ramallah, Mahmoud Abbas renewed his commitment to continue working with the United States as part of the fight against terror and extremism in the region.

Abbas also renewed his commitment to peace based on “justice, international resolutions and the two-state solution, including a Palestinian state on 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital” where Palestinians and Israelis “live side by side in peace and security.”

Read: Trump to work as ‘mediator’ for Middle East peace

“We are looking forward to [President Trump’s] visit soon to Bethlehem,” Abbas told the journalists. “We told him that we are ready to collaborate with him and meet the Israeli prime minister under his auspices to build peace.”

Trump is scheduled to visit the region on 22 May; he will meet Israeli officials in Tel Aviv and then Abbas in Bethlehem.

“I will stress on the need to reinforce partnership between Israel and the United States, which has been a success story for years,” said Trump in a written message to Israel Today. “I will discuss a number of regional issues of common interest, including the need to work against threats represented by Iran and its tools, and the threat of Daesh and other terrorist organisations.”