Netanyahu, Abbas break ice and shake hands at climate change conference
It was the leaders' first face to face exchange since 2010.
By HERB KEINONUpdated: NOVEMBER 30, 2015 15:24PM Netanyahu talks with President Abbas during a family photo for the opening day of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (photo credit: REUTERS)
PARIS – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas briefly shook hands during a “family picture” of the nearly 150 world leaders gathered here for the climate change conference. It was the leaders' first face to face exchange since 2010.Netanyahu is scheduled to address the conference Monday afternoon for three minutes, the time given to each of the leaders attending the parley.Netanyahu, accompanied by his wife Sara and Minister of Environmental Protection Avi Gabbay, arrived in Paris mid-morning on Monday, and went to the sprawling Le Bourget fairgrounds just outside of Paris for the conference.According to Netanyahu's spokesman, in the first two hours after his arrival he spoke briefly with US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Prince Charles, whom he invited to visit Israel.("Family Picture" of world leaders gathered at the conference, Credit: Reuters) During the day he is scheduled to hold 30-minute meetings each with Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as the prime ministers of Canada, Poland, Japan, Australia, India and the Netherlands.Netanyahu is scheduled to fly back to Israel late Monday night.The conference – just weeks after the attacks in Paris that killed 130 people – is taking place amid intense security, with the main arteries into Paris closed. The conference is being covered by thousands of journalists, who are watching the proceedings via television screens located in a media center adjacent to the plenum.