Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister GL Peiris has had a busy schedule over the last week, visiting both Palestinian and Israeli Presidents in visits to Ramallah and Jerusalem.
On meeting Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas in Ramallah, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence reported,
“President Abbas, recalling with his visits to Sri Lanka in 2008 and 2012, said that he was grateful to President Mahinda Rajapaksa who, as President of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement in Sri Lanka for over 35 years, identified very closely with the aspirations of the Palestinian people.
He said that the Palestinian Foreign Relations Commission expressed solidarity with Sri Lanka during its war against terrorism and continues to support Sri Lanka strongly in all its initiatives after the achievement of peace”.
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Meanwhile the Jerusalem Post reported that Peiris had been on a “private visit” in the West Bank and Ramallah, prior to his three day stay in Israel where he met President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Intelligence Affairs Minister Dan Meridor.
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Photographs: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Facebook page |
Peiris spoke at the University of Tel Aviv and, according to The Island, “briefed President Peres about the challenges which Sri Lanka is currently facing at the international level”.
The Jerusalem Post went on to say,
"Israel and Sri Lanka renewed diplomatic ties in 2000, and reportedly have a robust military relationship. Israeli weaponry, including Kfir planes and naval boats, have been attributed with helping the Sri Lankan government defeat the Tamil Tigers in 2009".