Palestinian president in Cyprus for two-day working visit

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Cyprus on Thursday and Friday for talks with President Nikos Christodoulides, the government spokesman said. Abbas will be received at the Presidential Palace for a private meeting, followed by a working lunch with delegations from both sides. It is the third contact between the two leaders since Christodoulides took office, with the last being held in May 2025 in Palestine. The agenda covers the Middle East and Cyprus’ humanitarian role, in particular the ‘Amalthea’ sea corridor for aid shipments to Gaza. The leaders will also discuss bilateral relations, EU-Palestine relations, developments in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the Cyprus problem. The government said the visit reflects the “historical ties between Nicosia and Ramallah”. Relations date to the 1960s and 1970s, when Archbishop Makarios took Cyprus into the Non-Aligned Movement, and the island recognised the State of Palestine immediately after its 1988 declaration. A Cypriot representative office opened in Ramallah in 2009, and after the 2012 UN General Assembly vote, it was upgraded to a full embassy, among the first in the EU. Demetris Christofias, president from 2008 to 2013, made the relationship a visible part of his foreign policy. On his first official visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, Christofias met Abbas in Ramallah, and the two signed five bilateral agreements. His term also covered the opening of the Ramallah office and the 2012 upgrade to an embassy. Abbas’ last visit was in June 2022, when then President Nicos Anastasiades said close ties with Israel would not come at the expense of Palestinians’ “legitimate rights”. Christodoulides visited Ramallah in August 2023. President Nikos Christodoulides visited Ramallah in 2023 and laid a wreath at Yasser Arafat’s tomb, and in March 2024 the first aid ship for Gaza left a Cypriot port. Israel once declared Androulla Vassiliou, wife of former president George Vassiliou, persona non grata after a delegation she led tried to meet Arafat, who was confined to his compound in Ramallah. Abbas has led the Palestinian Authority since 2005, with its Fatah-dominated administration governing parts of the West Bank, while Hamas has run Gaza.