Abbas, UN coordinator meet on national reconciliation, Gaza crisis

CAIRO – 2 July 2018: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday met with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov in Ramallah.

The meeting dealt with several files of common concern, including the national reconciliation and Gaza crisis.

It also reviewed the recent political developments on the internal arena and the suffering of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation.

Abbas stressed the importance of the vital role played by the United Nations and its institutions in protecting the Palestinian people.

He also called on the international bodies, particularly the UNRWA, to continue to provide services to the Palestinian refugees.

The Palestinian leadership continues to work towards achieving national reconciliation and ending the division on the basis of enabling the national unity government to function in the Gaza Strip, Abbas told Mladenov.

The United Nations fully supports efforts to end of the division between Gaza and the West Bank, as well as those exerted by the Palestinian leadership to return to Gaza, Mladenov said.

The meeting mulled ways to put an end to the crisis in Gaza as a political issue, taking into account the difficult humanitarian situation there, he added.