Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas’s exiled leader Khaled Mashaal urge the United Nations to draw up a “timetable” for the end of the “Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories,” Qatar state media says.
Abbas and Mashaal issued the appeal during talks in Doha, as fighting continued in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Qatar’s state news agency QNA says.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Doha on August 21, 2014. (photo credit: AFP PHOTO/ PPO / THAER GHANEM)
The two Palestinian leaders have been holding talks in Doha since Thursday, but little else has filtered out of their meetings which are hosted by the emir of Qatar, a key Hamas backer.
QNA says Abbas and Mashaal discussed Israel’s “aggression” in Gaza and underlined “the importance of acting at all levels in order to… lift Israel’s blockade of Gaza.”
They also agreed to request from the United Nations “a resolution that would define a timetable for the end of Israel’s occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state”.
The agency said Abbas would undertake the diplomatic steps necessary to seek such a resolution.
During their meeting, Abbas and Meshaal stressed that the unity government “represents all the Palestinian people and looks after their interests”, QNA says.
It also reported that the Qatari ruler spoke by phone Friday to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss efforts to stop “Israel’s aggression on Gaza and the lifting of the blockade.”
— AFP, Times of Israel staff
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