Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived at the African Union (AU) summit Feb. 10 with a specific and detailed wish list. Addressing African leaders at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Abbas asked for “additional support for the Palestinian issue in the coming period in order to achieve full membership for the State of Palestine in the United Nations.” He also called on African states “to support the idea of an international [Israeli-Palestinian peace] conference and to participate in it.”
The list of speakers at the summit was long and Abbas maximized well his five-minute speaking slot. Still, the important part of his visit was not really his speech, but rather the family photo taken at the end of the opening ceremony, with the Palestinian president standing right in front. Abbas was there; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not.
