Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the government headquarters at Maximos Mansion on Monday. Welcoming the Palestinian leader, he noted that Palestinians are a nation “fighting to find justice.” He said that the struggle of the Palestinian people has “touched and motivated” struggles worldwide.

“Unfortunately, we live at a time when our region is surrounded by negative developments, great instability, wars, interventions, growth of terrorist organizations and terrorist attacks,” he said, adding that this is why it is more important than ever to highlight a need for cooperation and for finding peaceful solutions to problems.”

Tsipras said that Greece would like to play a constructive role in this direction as it is a stable country in the wider region but also a traditional friend of Palestine and the Arab world, while also maintaining close relations and cooperation with Israel. Tsipras hopes that Greece can be a “bridge” in the direction of a just and viable solution to the Palestinian problem.

Abbas expressed his belief that Greece could play a role in resolving the issue and he thanked Tsipras for meeting with him. “I consider myself most fortunate for meeting with you four times within this period,” he said, adding that this is a reflection of the depth of ties and mutual trust between the two countries.

The Palestinian leader spoke of the historic bonds between Greece and Palestine and the common bonds they share. He noted that Tsipras has explored the essence of the problem and understands that the Palestinian issue needs to be resolved before the other problems can be resolved.

“If the Palestinian issue is resolved, then the problem of terrorism that surrounds us will also be resolved,” said Abbas. “We are in favor of combating terrorism. We are in favor of a peaceful resolution and political settlement of all the problems we are seeing in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.”

He pointed to the positive relations between Greece and Palestine and said the country could play an important political role as mediator between the two sides.