Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Fox News that he was willing to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their mutual stay in New York, Monday. Abbas is currently in New York holding meetings in preparation for UN Security Council vote on Palestinian statehood status.

“I will meet any Israeli official any time,” said Abbas, though he added that “there is no use if there is nothing tangible.”

Earlier, Abbas met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the UN headquarters and reaffirmed that he planned to ask this week for a Security Council vote on Palestinian membership despite the certainty of a US veto, his spokesman Nabil Abu Rdaineh said.

Earlier on Monday, Netanyahu called Abbas to meet with him in New York in a statement Netanyahu gave before leaving for the UN headquarters where he will be trying to thwart the Palestinian statehood bid, YNet reported.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a matched gift today.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$120 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT