'Abbas not holding friendly visit to Iran'

Ynetnews

The Foreign Ministry responded to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' announcement that plans to attend the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Tehran, saying that "it is not a state visit, and is solely aimed at attending the summit, which will take place in Iran."

An official at the ministry stressed that Abbas cannot afford to be the only one to miss the summit. "It's an important support group for the Palestinians and therefore he has to go," the official said.

Abbas received the invitation from Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian during a meeting in Amman on Sunday.

The Palestinian leader thanked the Iranian deputy minister for the invitation, sent his regards to Ahmadinejad and promised to attend the summit.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian source that told Ynet that the Palestinian Authority has thus far rejected similar invitations for visits or dialogues with Iran, however this time it is not a personal visit.

"The Palestinians will attend an international conference. We are not going there to please Ahamdinejad," the source noted, saying that "it is important to remember that the non-aligned states are the basis of all Palestinian moves in the UN and that they support us in the international arena.

"We can't boycott this meeting just because it is taking place in Iran. We always came to these conferences, and even if the next one is held in Israel, we will show up."

The Palestinian source claimed that it is still unclear whether Abbas will hold a personal meeting with Ahmadinejad during the visit. "Even if such a meeting does take place, I will not be surprised," he said, adding that "the Americans have eliminated all our options and Israel isn’t interested in holding talks under the proposed conditions, so why not start a dialogue with Iran?"

The source stressed that this doesn’t mean the Palestinians will start supporting the Iranian policy, because they completely object to it. "They need to stop calling to wipe Israel off the map and start calling to add Palestine to the map," he said, "There is a fundamental difference between us and them."

Asked whether he thinks the visit to Iran could attract condemnations from Europe or the United States, the official noted that "in recent years, we have addressed the need to solve the Palestinian issue in diplomatic ways. If the European countries cannot provide the needed solution, I don't think they have the right to complain."