ISTANBUL/BARCELONA (AFP) – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Turkey on Thursday for a gathering with his envoys abroad ahead of a Palestinian bid for UN recognition, Anatolia news agency reported.

Abbas is to meet with Palestinian ambassadors, convening in Istanbul at the weekend, before leaving Turkey on Saturday afternoon, a Turkish diplomat said earlier Thursday.

He is also to have talks with Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who have been invited to the meeting.

The Istanbul gathering of the ambassadors comes ahead of a planned Palestinian bid for a recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September amid a long stalemate in peace talks with Israel.

The Palestinian plan to seek UN membership for a state on the lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War is opposed by among others Israel and the United States. It risks being blocked by a US veto at the UN Security Council.

Late on Wednesday Abbas said his efforts to seek UN membership for the Palestinians would not affect negotiations “that we want to continue to have” with Israel.

Abbas was in Spain as part of a foreign tour aimed at drumming up support for United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state amid a long stalemate in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

“Whatever happens and whatever the reaction and the result of our action in the UN, we know conclusively that we will return to the negotiating table to reach the best solutions with the Israelis,” Abbas said in a speech in Arabic at the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean in Barcelona.

“The efforts that we have taken to go to the United Nations in September will not be detrimental to peace nor to negotiations that we want to continue to have.”

The speech came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was willing to hold peace talks with the Palestinians immediately. read more