Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas plans to attend Shimon Peres’s funeral in Jerusalem tomorrow, at the head of a PA delegation, Palestinian and Israeli officials said Thursday, The Times of Israel reported.
Abbas’s office contacted the head of COGAT, Israel’s civilian authority in the Palestinian territories, Yoav Mordechai, to coordinate the president’s attendance, a COGAT statement said.
The bureau of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the okay for the visit, several Hebrew media outlets reported a short time later, citing a senior diplomatic official.
A senior Palestinian official confirmed that Abbas was seeking to attend the funeral.
The official said Abbas wanted to “send a strong message to Israeli society that the Palestinians are for peace, and appreciate the efforts of peaceful men like Shimon Peres.”
