US President Barack Obama assured Mahmud Abbas by telephone of his commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Palestinian leader's spokesman said.
"Mr. Obama promised Mr. Abbas to make all efforts for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state living in security, peace and stability alongside Israel," Nabil Abou Roudeina said, adding that the US leader had called Abbas.
The call followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's White House meeting with Obama on Tuesday, in which the two leaders discussed a number of issues, including Israel's stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.
"President Abbas received a phone call from President Obama about the latest political events, in particular the meeting of Mr. Obama with Netanyahu," Roudeina said.
He said that Abbas had assured Obama of his own commitment "to a peace process that is serious and continuous, and which leads to the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories... and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state."
| It was a polite conversation, so President Abbas's belief that the proper boundaries of that independent Palestinian state are the Jordan River, the Mediterranean Sea, and the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Egypt was not mentioned. |
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