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AMMAN: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was due to hold talks with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday in the latest leg of a diplomatic offensive designed to challenge US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Since US President Donald Trump announced in December that he intended to move America’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the Palestinian leader has been attempting to strengthen opposition to the plan within the wider diplomatic community.
His meeting with Putin in Moscow is the most recent sign of a concerted strategy emerging from Ramallah, which fears that Washington is trying to establish itself as the sole guarantor of any future peace talks.
In the past few weeks, Abbas has attended a conference in Cairo held to reaffirm Arab and Islamic claims to Jerusalem, met with Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel and Jordanian leader King Abdullah II, and held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, the Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah is also due to meet Palestinian officials today.
Abbas is believed to be modelling his approach on the Iranian strategy that resulted in Tehran reaching a deal with six world powers in 2015 to place limits on its nuclear enrichment energy program in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions.
Abbas hopes that with enough international backing he can regain some of the momentum from Israel, which hailed Trump’s decision as a “major moment” in history. Palestinians have long viewed East Jerusalem as the capital of an eventual Palestinian state and believe its status can be decided only in a final, mutually decided, peace agreement.
In a Dec. 21 vote at the UN, 128 countries condemned the US president’s announcement and nine countries supported it. A further 35 countries abstained from the vote and 21 did not participate.
Last month Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also visited Moscow and it remains unclear whether Abbas will get the diplomatic leverage he needs to put some of the pressure back on to Washington.
He was originally due to meet Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, but the meeting was rearranged after a Russian passenger aircraft crashed outside Moscow on Feb. 11, killing 71 people.