President Barack Obama is to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday on the sidelines of the ongoing UN General Assembly, FOX News Channel reported.
The meeting will come as Abbas seemingly presses on with his intention to put forward a full United Nations membership request to UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday afternoon, after addressing the General Assembly.
The expected move has angered Israel, which says a Palestinian state can only be established through direct negotiations. Washington is also opposed to the maneuver and has vowed to block the request when it is put before the UN Security Council for a vote.
National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes late Tuesday confirmed the meeting between Obama and Abbas.
“At roughly 6:00pm, he’ll [Obama] have a meeting, a bilateral meeting with President Abbas, of the Palestinian Authority,” Rhodes told journalists, according to AFP.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is flying to New York to make Israel’s case in the face of the controversial Palestinian bid. Obama is due to meet with him Wednesday morning, Rhodes confirmed.
Ahead of this meeting, the US leader late Tuesday called on Israel and Turkey to repair their ties strained by a crisis over a deadly 2010 Israeli raid on a flotilla attempting to reach Gaza, in which nine Turks died.
“The president underscored his interest in seeing a resolution of that issue between those two countries who are both allies of ours, and encouraged them to work towards that end,” said a top White House adviser.
.