RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday received Bakir Izetbegovic, chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Ramallah, where the two leaders called for an international Middle East peace conference.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Abbas reiterated calls for an international peace summit — and a “multilateral mechanism” to oversee the peace process — with a view to reaching a “two-state solution” to the long-running Israel-Palestine conflict.
Abbas said he had briefed his guest on recent U.S. decisions regarding Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, which, he asserted, had shown Washington’s “bias” in favor of Israel.
Izetbegovic, for his part, expressed the support of his government, too, for an international Middle East peace conference and a two-state solution to the decades-long dispute.
“Negotiations are the only way to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” he said.
The Bosnian leader went on to criticize unbridled Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, describing the policy as “detrimental” to peace.
Izetbegovic arrived in Ramallah earlier Wednesday from Jordan for a one-day state visit to Palestine.
He was received by Abbas at an official ceremony before the two leaders held closed-door discussions.
Izetbegovic’s visit — his second to Palestine in 18 months — is ostensibly aimed at bolstering ties between the two countries.
