Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas has called on senior diplomats and United Nations officials to join him in a meeting in New York next week, ahead of his planned address before the United Nations General Assembly. Abbas is scheduled to speak at the UN General Assembly on September 27th. On Wednesday, Palestinian Authority representative in the United Nations Riyad Mansour said that Abbas had invited 30 foreign diplomats and UN Security Council representatives to a meeting in New York. The meeting is set to take place on September 26th, a day before Abbas’ address to the General Assembly. According to Mansour, the meeting is intended, in part, to address what he called the “radical shift” in US policy vis-à-vis the Middle East that has occurred under the Trump administration. The PA’s leadership has snubbed senior US officials since President Trump’s December 6th, 2017 declaration recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, including the refusal of Abbas to meet with Vice President Mike Pence . Relations between the White House and PA continued to deteriorate in recent months, following the PA’s refusal to accept a planned US framework for a final status agreement with Israel. Earlier this month , the Trump administration ordered the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization offices in Washington DC, and later expelled PA envoy Husam Zomlot . The US has also cut funding of the Palestinian Authority , including freezing $200 million in bilateral assistance to the PA. AFP contributed to this report
