Biden Rejected Request to Meet With Abbas on Margins of UNGA - Reports

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden rejected a request from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to have a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last week, Axios reported on Wednesday

The report said Abbas wanted to meet on the margins of high-level week at the United Nations in New York City or in Washington after the UN event.

The White House initially told the Palestinians that Biden would not have bilateral talks with world leaders at the UN General Assembly and he had no room in his schedule to host Abbas at the White House.

However, Biden met Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the margins of the UN General Assembly last week. Biden also met with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide soon after he returned to Washington from New York.

Israel’s ambassador to the United States Gilad Erdan told Sputnik earlier this week that Israel is prepared to have direct talks with the Palestinians without any preconditions. Last week, Palestinian National Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al Maliki told Sputnik that the Palestinians are also ready to resume peace talks with Israel but have yet to see a willingness from the latter's new leadership.

Erdan said that Israeli and US leaders do not consider Abbas a real partner for peace and negotiations.