Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas, on the sidelines of the 79th General Assembly, in New York on, on Wednesday.
During the meeting the two leaders discussed the ongoing conflict in the Middle East with the Greek prime minister reiterating the need for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Mitsotakis expressed his concern over the escalating situation, which is threatening the broader region with destabilization, with other countries, such as Lebanon, having been drawn into the conflict.
The prime minister further emphasized the urgent necessity of resuming the political process with aim to leading to a two-state solution.
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas born in 1935 in Safed (present-day Israel), is the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
He served as the first prime minister of the PA in 2003 and in January 2005, he was reelected president, with 62 percent of the vote. Abbas’s presidential mandate was extended in December 2009 by the EC.
Abbas is a long-time supporter of political dialogue with Israel as opposed to military confrontation, and is regarded as one of the main architects of the Oslo peace process.
What is more, he initiated contacts with Jewish and pacifist groups in Israel as far back as the 1970s, and headed the Palestinian negotiating team that created the Oslo Accords in 1993.
In 2011, Abbas oversaw Palestine’s successful application to be recognised as a state at the United Nations General Assembly.
