COP28: Israeli and Palestinian prez to address meet in Dubai

DUBAI: Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas will both address the COP28 UN climate talks in Dubai this week, seven weeks into the Israel and Hamas war, officials said on Tuesday.

Herzog and Abbas are both scheduled to make speeches lasting three minutes maximum on Friday. Abbas is expected to be in the room when Herzog is speaking, as he is scheduled to address the room only three speakers later.

Abbas, head of the Fatah party that leads the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, has only met Israeli officials on rare occasions.


More than 140 heads of state and government are due to address COP28 on Thursday and Friday, the start of nearly two weeks of talks to address the climate crisis, according to a UN list made available on Tuesday. Other notable speakers in the first two days include Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelensky, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Jordan's King Abdullah II, the emir of Qatar and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Another group of leaders will take part in a second batch of speeches on December 9 and 10, before COP28 is scheduled to wrap up on December 12.

Meanwhile, workers under a still-scorching November sun stapled up bunting and decorated Dubai Expo City's iconic Al Wasl Dome with trees and other green foliage ahead of the summit, scheduled to start Thursday in the United Arab Emirates. Armed United Nations police patrolled about half the area of Expo City where the delegates will debate, while the other half will host other climate events.

The two-week meeting of international leaders aims to assess where the world stands when it comes to limiting emissions to slow global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius (2.7 degrees fahrenheit).