RAMALLAH
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Turkish capital Ankara next Monday to discuss the repercussions of the UN Security Council (UNSC)'s failure to adopt a draft resolution setting a deadline for ending the Israeli occupation, a Palestinian diplomat has said.
Abbas will meet with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a number of other senior Turkish officials to discuss issues related to Palestinian statehood, the diplomat, requesting anonymity, told The Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
The official said talks would also tackle the reconstruction of the war-battered Gaza Strip following an Israeli offensive last summer that left more than 2,160 Palestinians dead – mostly civilians – and thousands of homes destroyed.
The two leaders will also discuss recent tension in occupied East Jerusalem, home to the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque, the diplomat said.
The PA has yet to formally announce Abbas' visit, which will come less than one month after a similar visit by Khaled Meshaal, the Qatar-based leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement.
While in Turkey, Meshaal had attended a conference organized by Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party.
Last week, the UNSC rejected an Arab-backed Palestinian draft resolution that had set 2017 as a deadline for Israel's complete withdrawal from the occupied West Bank.
The bill failed to win the nine votes needed to pass, with the U.S. – Israel's longstanding, veto-wielding ally – voting against the proposal.
In response to the bill's failure, Abbas applied for Palestinian membership in 20 international treaties and organizations, including the International Criminal Court, which would – theoretically – allow the PA to sue Israel for war crimes.
The Israeli government, in turn, halted the transfer of some $175 million of Palestinian tax revenues, collected monthly on behalf of the PA.
The funds represent an essential source of income for the Ramallah-based PA, which uses it to pay the salaries of the employees of a unity government drawn up last summer.
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