UNSC to discuss Abbas's initiative to hold int'l peace conference

Ramallah, Jan 24 The UN Security Council (UNSC) will hold a session to discuss the situation in the Middle East region including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's initiative to hold international peace conference, a senior official said here.

"The session will be held on Tuesday," Xinhua news agency quoted Riyad Mansour, Palestinian envoy to the UN, as saying to a local media outlet on Saturday.

He explained that the session will discuss three critical issues related to the Palestinian issue.

The first one is the initiative made by Abbas to convene an international peace conference.

The second issue is the presidential decrees issued by Abbas to hold general elections in the Palestinian territories, as well as their preparations, Mansour said.

"The third issue is related to the new US government headed by Joe Biden and the Palestinian willingness to deal with it on the basis of its backing off from controversial positions by (former US President) Donald Trump," he added.

On October 28, 2020, Abbas called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to hold urgent consultations on convening an international peace conference.

In a letter sent to Guterres, the Palestinian leader called on the majority of the UN Security Council's members "to start preparing at the beginning of next year (2021) for an international conference for peace in the Middle East".

( With inputs from IANS )