Mahmoud Abbas used a trip to Nicosia on Thursday to float a cautious opening. Two days after Israelis went to the polls, the Palestinian president said his side would sit down to discuss peace as soon as a new Israeli cabinet takes office, and he wants Cyprus to play a part in making any such talks work.
The 90-year-old first sat down with his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides, and then joined him for lunch with both teams. Speaking through an interpreter, he argued that the island enjoys close ties with Palestinians and Israelis alike and could therefore act as a go-between. In his view, the basis for a deal remains what the Security Council has already decided, together with international law.
Cyprus was among the countries that recognised Palestinian statehood as early as 1988, and Abbas made a point of saying thank you for that and for the help that followed. His tone mixed outreach and defiance. On one hand he said Palestinians were also worried about the safety of Israelis and did not want armed confrontation. On the other he defended “peaceful popular resistance” and spoke of hardship for Palestinians from Gaza to Jerusalem.
Christodoulides answered that Cyprus stood ready to take on any role that served shared goals, and listed the aid his country sends as well as Palestinian involvement in the CYCLOPS training centre in Larnaca. No formal mediation plan was announced.
Whether there will be anyone to talk to is another matter. Votes in Israel are still being counted and coalition building could drag on for weeks. The setting carried its own message, too: Washington has refused Abbas a visa for the UN General Assembly two years in a row.
