A Palestinian diplomat announced on Monday that President Mahmoud Abbas will head the Palestinian delegation at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York next month.
Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, revealed in an official statement to Palestinian Radio that President Abbas will travel to New York on the 17th of next month. He is scheduled to address the General Assembly on the 21st of the same month.
Mansour also indicated that the delegation is preparing to garner both political and economic support for the Palestinian cause. This includes a planned meeting with donor countries to the Palestinian Authority, set to take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings.
Furthermore, Mansour stated that while in New York, President Abbas is slated to meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. This meeting will precede Guterres’s upcoming tour of the Middle East, scheduled to happen before the end of this year.
As of my last update in September 2021, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has been a regular attendee and speaker at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings. These are annual meetings where leaders from around the world gather to discuss global issues. The Palestinian Authority has been a non-member observer state at the U.N. since 2012, and although it doesn’t have full voting rights, it can participate in General Assembly activities.
President Abbas typically uses his platform at the UNGA to highlight issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the occupation, settlement expansion, and the status of Jerusalem, among other pressing matters. He often calls for a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders and for the international community to take action against Israeli policies that Palestinians view as unjust.
Such speeches also serve to attract global attention to the Palestinian cause and to seek political and economic support from other nations. These addresses are closely watched for any changes in policy, strategy, or tone that might signal new developments or shifts in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or in relations between Palestine and other countries.
The UNGA speeches frequently coincide with bilateral meetings with other world leaders and UN officials, including the UN Secretary-General, as well as discussions with potential donor countries to secure economic aid for the Palestinian territories.
Given the high-profile nature of the UNGA and the media attention it garners, President Abbas’s speeches there are an important aspect of the Palestinian diplomatic strategy.
