Palestinian Authority rejects criticism of Abbas meetings with families of terrorists

The Palestinian Authority on Thursday rejected criticism of President Mahmoud Abbas’s meeting with families of Palestinians who attacked Israelis.

 

A senior Palestinian official in Ramallah said the meeting, which took place on Wednesday, came at the request of the families.

 

“The families asked for the meeting because they wanted President Abbas to help retrieve the bodies of their dead sons,” the official told The Jerusalem Post.

 

The families from east Jerusalem had previously accused the PA leadership of failing to intervene with Israeli authorities to release the bodies of their sons.

 

At the meeting, which took place shortly after a terrorist attack at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem in which a border policewoman was killed and another was wounded, the families appealed to Abbas to support their campaign to retrieve the bodies of their sons, the official noted.

 

He quoted Abbas as telling the families that the PA leadership was “making efforts to secure the release of the bodies of the martyrs.”

 

The official also quoted Abbas as voicing opposition to any conditions set by Israel in return.

 

Read More: Palestinian Authority rejects criticism of Abbas meetings with families of terrorists – Arab-Israeli Conflict – Jerusalem Post