Greece offers to mediate as Palestinian President Abbas visits

Greece can hold a constructive role in efforts to resolve the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict thanks to its traditional good relations with both sides, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday.

Abbas is on a three-day visit to Athens that will culminate on Tuesday, when the speaker of the Greek parliament will hand him a copy of a resolution unanimously approved by the House's Defense and Foreign Affairs committee last week that calls on the government to recognize a Palestinian state.

Similar symbolic non-binding resolutions have been approved by European parliaments in recent years.

During talks with Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Tsipras, Abbas reiterated the Palestinian peoples' willingness to reach a "viable" solution with Israel, underlining that the two sides had a "last chance" to achieve it, and thanked Greece for its support to the Palestinian cause throughout the years.

"Greece can play the role of a bridge to reach a fair and viable solution to the Palestinian issue," Tsipras said in statements to the Press following the meeting.

Both sides stressed that the resolution of the Palestinian issue is the "key" to restore peace in the wider Middle East region.

Tsipras also noted that from now on in all Greek public documents the term "Palestine" will be used instead of "Palestinian Authority."

Asked when his government will make the next substantial step and officially recognize Palestine as a state, the Greek leader said that "Greece will make the necessary steps when the right time arrives."

"Until then we will decide how Greece can hold a constructive role in the process to resolve the Palestinian issue," Tsipras stressed. Endit