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Abbas Agrees to Meet Netanyahu with Preconditions | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. /AP


Ramallah, Tel Aviv: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to sit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow, Russia’s Interfax news agency cited the Palestinian embassy in Moscow as saying on Monday.

Member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s executive committee Saleh Raafat told the official Voice of Palestine radio: “Netanyahu is requeste to implement the Israeli commitment included in the Palestinian and Israeli agreements, to immediately stop all kind of resettlements, and to releases the fourth group of Palestinian prisoners, which may pave the way to a Palestinian-Israeli Summit.”

Raafat said the Russian initiative did not yet set any fixed date for the meeting.

Contrary to reports published earlier, Abbas did not meet with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who had arrived to Israel when Abu Mazen was on his way to Poland.

Abbas arrived to Warsaw on Monday in a three-day official visit to meet with his Polish counterpart President Andrzej Duda, and a number of officials.

In Israel, Netanyahu’s office said earlier on Monday the prime minister was considering an offer by Russian President Vladimir Putin to host the talks between him and Abbas.

Netanyahu had met with Bogdanov on Monday.

Netanyahu’s office added that the Israeli prime minister “is always ready to meet (Abbas) without preconditions and is therefore considering the Russian president’s proposal very seriously to set the timing for a possible meeting, especially that the proposition comes from President Vladimir Putin.”

Israeli diplomatic sources said yesterday that Netanyahu had spoken with Putin on the phone few days ago and both sides had tackled the issue of the possible summit in details. However, the sources said it was still early to speak about a meeting before the Palestinian side reveals its position.

The sources added: “Palestinians do not seem enthusiastic about anything at the present moment and they are still attached to old conditions although they know Israel would not accept them.”