Palestinian President Abbas to Attend Shimon Peres' Funeral

Barak Ravid and Jack Khoury

Netanyahu approves Abbas' request to lead a delegation of Palestinian officials to honor the late president on Friday, senior official says.

 

JERUSALEM: -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's request to attend the funeral of former President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem on Friday was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior Israeli official said.

This will be Abbas' first official visit in Israel since September 2010, and the first time he will have shaken hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since last November.
 

Abbas' office sent on Thursday a request to coordinate his attendance at the funeral, said the spokeswoman for Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the coordinator of government activities in the territories. The request was passed on to the Prime Minister's Bureau.

 

Full story: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.745056

 

-- HAARETZ 2016-09-30

The Honorable thing to do. 

 

RIP to great man of peace.

2 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

The Honorable thing to do. 

 

RIP to great man of peace.

 

The ONLY thing to do really, if want to ever be considered to be worthy of any respect from the Israelis and other heads of states.

I suspect pressure put on Abbas by the Saudis to respond to Netanyahu's invitation to talk may have been partly responsible. The funeral of Peres gave Abbas further reason. Whether there are any behind the scenes talks coinciding with the funeral remains to be seen.


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2 hours ago, Steely Dan said:

I suspect pressure put on Abbas by the Saudis to respond to Netanyahu's invitation to talk may have been partly responsible. The funeral of Peres gave Abbas further reason. Whether there are any behind the scenes talks coinciding with the funeral remains to be seen.


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I doubt your suspicions are correct.

 

As pointed above, not attending would marginalize Abbas's own international position as being pro-peace. Additionally, not participating could have played right into the hands of Hamas, serving to highlight their stance. Those wishing to be less cynical, could give Abbas some credit for going of his volition an nothing else. As an aside, the Israeli Arab MKs hurried to announce they would not attend, only to find themselves in awkward position after Abbas's move.

 

There would hardly be much time for backroom meeting what with the short schedule, security issues and numbers of world leaders arriving. 

He is only going there for the Lox and bagels. You think he really cares ?

They have been killing each other for hundreds of years. Before they were countries.

5 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

The Honorable thing to do. 

 

RIP to great man of peace.

Yes, a man of peace and also one of the greatest ZIONISTS of all time. You see, they are not mutually exclusive!

Abbas is obviously a man with class and integrity.  Quite the reverse of  Bush.