PA President Abbas Calls For Emergency Meeting On Sidelines Of UN Confab

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has invited dozens of high-ranking diplomats to a meeting focused on the stalemated peace process to take place on the sidelines of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly confab. It comes amid a major diplomatic crisis between Ramallah and the Trump administration, which cut-off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians after Abbas imposed a boycott on American officials in the wake of Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The PA leader also has repeatedly rejected out-of-hand the White House’s yet-to-be-unveiled peace proposal while directing a torrent of derogatory rhetoric at top U.S. envoys. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for September 26, the day before Abbas addresses the General Assembly, a pulpit he previously has used to harshly criticize Israel. While Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour was relatively mum on the specifics of the meeting, he suggested it would center on the “radical shift” in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking since U.S. President Donald Trump assumed office.