The Pope is preparing to host the Palestinian president at
the Vatican for the third time, two years on from the president’s last visit.
Pope Francis will welcome Mahmoud Abbas to Rome for talks
shortly before the start of an international conference in Paris aimed at
finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It is not currently known what they will discuss; Italian
foreign minister Angelino Alfano will also meet with the president on the same
day.
The pontiff has met President Abbas on two previous
occasions: once during a trip to the Holy Land in 2014, and once during the
Palestinian leader’s only other Vatican visit the following year.
It is believed a Palestinian embassy will be established in
the Vatican at some point this year. An accord was signed two years ago in
which the Pope and clergy officially recognised the Palestinian state.
Tensions between the Vatican and Israel have been high since
the signing of the accord, and suffered further strain when Pope Francis
described Mr Abbas as an “angel of peace” during a previous meeting.
Last week, President Abbas said the Palestinians would be
willing to fully resume peace talks with Israel if it stopped building
settlements.
Meanwhile Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the upcoming Paris talks as "a
fraud, a Palestinian fraud supported by France, the aim of which is to adopt
additional anti-Israeli positions". His government refused to take any
part in the discussions.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All rights reserved. This material and any other material on this site may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, written or distributed in full or in part, without written permission from WISEMEN
<===============================================>
WISEMEN is highly honoured to have you as our esteemed reader.
You are encouraged to make comments to any post herein.
However, we shall not be responsible for use of foul language, it is against our professional ethics.
Help build a better Society!