Palestinian president to visit State for talks with Higgins, Taoiseach and Coveney

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas will visit Ireland at the weekend for meetings with President Michael D Higgins as well as the Taoiseach and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

It comes ahead of an intense week of diplomatic engagements at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Mr Abbas will meet Mr Higgins on Saturday before a working dinner with Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

Joined by his foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki, the pair will also hold talks with Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney on Sunday.

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Two-state solution

Ireland – which is nearing the end of its two-year term on the United Nations Security Council – has long been an advocate of the two-state solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis, advocating a permanent and sustainable ceasefire and a lifting of the blockade on Gaza.

While accepting the right of Israel to defend its people, the Irish position is that this right does not negate the rights of others and any use of military force in self-defence must be in accordance with international humanitarian law and be both discriminate and proportionate.

In advance of his meeting with Mr Abbas, Mr Higgins spoke with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog by phone on Friday. The pair spoke of Mr Herzog’s visit to Ireland in 2018.

Settlement activity

The Israeli leader is said to have expressed his appreciation for the welcome his family had received on the 100th anniversary of the birth of his father Chaim Herzog – a previous president of Israel – in Belfast.

An Áras an Uachtaráin spokesman said: “The presidents discussed the position with regards to the Middle East, including settlement activity, which is endangering prospects for a peace, as well as the recent actions with regard to NGOs [non-governmental organisations].”

He said both Mr Herzog and Mr Abbas were aware of Mr Higgins’s contact with them and the President’s view that it is important that possible initiatives are discussed.

Mr Higgins intends to resume talks with both presidents in the future.