Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas submitted a request to Israel on Thursday for a permit to attend the funeral of former President Shimon Peres, set for Friday.
The request was sent to the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that of IDF Maj.-General Yoav Mordechai, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). In that role, Mordechai is also commander of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria.
The request was officially authorized by Netanyahu, his office said in a subsequent statement to media.
Abbas expressed his “sadness and sorrow” Wednesday in response to hearing of the elder statesman’s death, and sent a letter of condolence to his family, WAFA reported.
“Peres was a partner in making the brave peace with the martyr Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister [Yitzhak] Rabin, and made unremitting efforts to reach a lasting peace from the Oslo Agreement until the final moments of his life,” Abbas wrote, according to WAFA.
The government led by Abbas, however, issued a completely opposite obituary about the 93-year-old former president, saying he was responsible for the “deaths of Palestinians” and committed “many crimes.”