Mahmoud Abbas Plans To Attend Shimon Peres Funeral

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By Reuters September 29, 2016

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans a rare visit to Jerusalem on Friday to attend the funeral of former Israeli leader Shimon Peres, a Palestinian official said on Thursday.

Peres, who died on Wednesday at 93, won worldwide praise for his efforts in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the 1990s. But with negotiations frozen since 2014, it had been unclear whether Abbas would travel to the occupied West Bank from nearby Ramallah for the burial.

“Abbas plans to go,” said the official, who asked not to be identified because no formal announcement had been made.

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