Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is prepared to accept an invitation from his Russian counterpart to a proposed "tripartite meeting" in Moscow with an Israeli leader, according to a spokesman for Abbas.
"President Abbas has always said he was willing to meet [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, but the latter has consistently evaded the meeting," spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a Tuesday statement carried by Palestine's WAFA news agency.
Abu Rudeina made the remarks in response to earlier comments by Netanyahu, who was recently quoted by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation as saying: "It's possible to reach peace as soon as I meet a Palestinian leader who also says that he wants it."
Abu Rudeina responded to the overture by saying: "President Abbas remains ready to accept President [Vladimir] Putin's request for a [tripartite] meeting at any time, either with the current [Israeli] prime minister or any other prime minister."
Palestine-Israel peace talks broke down in 2014, due mainly to the latter's refusal to end its longstanding policy of building illegal Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank.
