Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, diplomatic source in Oslo say.
According to the sources, Abbas has been using different mediators to convince the Norwegian Nobel Committee to grant him the prestigious award, whose past recipients include former Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, US President Barack Obama, late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
and President Shimon Peres.
The sources added that members of the Nobel Committee have been approached recently by Abbas' associates, including former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei.
The reasons behind the Palestinians president's request to receive the award are unclear, as he has refused to even meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
over the past year.
Regardless of his desire to be included in the prestigious list of Nobel Peace Prize recipients, Abbas has reportedly made some positive statements
recently, including his willingness to let Israel
keep the Western Wall and agree to a land exchange of about 4% of the West Bank. He has also met with Israeli reporters at the Mukataa in Ramallah.
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