Japan's Abe meets with Abbas in Ramallah

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abe arrived in Ramallah following his visit to Jordan as part of wider visit to the Middle East to enhance Tokyo's energy and security ties. According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, Abbas stressed that the Palestinian side was and is ready to cooperate for the success of any international effort aimed at coming up with a political process based on United Nations resolutions and the principle of the two-state solution. Abbas reportedly called for a greater political role for Japan in proportion to its important political and economic size at the international level, particularly after it has voted for accepting Palestine as a non-member observer at the United Nations. The Japanese Prime Minister in turn affirmed his country's support for a two-state solution and its readiness to contribute to any effort to achieve peace. Abe said that his country was not planning to transfer its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The meeting took place a day after Abbas delivered a widely criticized speech in which he said that Jews in Europe were massacred for centuries because of their “social behavior related to usury and banks.” Abbas made the statement in a speech on Monday at the beginning of a meeting of the Palestinian National Council, a top PLO body that is convening in Ramallah this week to elect members to two other PLO institutions. Abe is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Reuters contributed to this report

Japan's Abe meets with Abbas in Ramallah

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Japan's Abe meets with Abbas in Ramallah

Japanese prime minister said his country was not planning to transfer its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

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