Palestinian soccer chief Jibril Rjoub announced last month that Abbas would travel to Russia for the game and would meet with President Vladimir Putin to discuss “bilateral relations and the latest political developments.”
During their meeting on Saturday, Putin said he was pleased to be able to discuss the problems facing the Palestinians.
“I know that the situation in the region is difficult and we are grateful that you have used the World Cup as a reason to come to Moscow,” the Russian president added.
But mirroring criticism leveled at Israeli occupation regime's PM Benjamin Netanyahu for a similar visit to Moscow last week, some Palestinian commentators have taken Abbas to task for his plans to stay on in Moscow and attend the World Cup final between France and Croatia.
“At a time when widespread Israeli aggression against Gaza is being launched and the children of the Strip are being killed… President Abbas is going to celebrate and relax in Russia, watching the World Cup final,” Ibrahim Madhoun, a columnist for the Hamas-linked al-Resalah, said in a tweet. “We are standing before a president who is isolated from his people and cause.”
Responding to the criticism, Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki defended the decision and contended that the Palestinian leader cannot reject an invitation from his Russian counterpart.
In their meeting, Abbas reportedly told Putin of his concerns over US President Donald Trump’s decision to move the country’s embassy to Al –qudas( Jerusalem), as well as Israeli settlement activity.
The talks came as Israeli occupation regime bombed and launched the widest day-time air strikes since the 2014 war against Palestinians in Gaza strip.
Besides, Almost all of the Palestinian factions, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), have criticised a speech by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in which he pledged more punitive measures against Gaza and its Palestinian residents.
Abbas told the PLO Executive Committee meeting on Monday that he has decided to take “national, legal and economic measures” against the Gaza Strip. He claimed that the measures against Gaza were decided “for the protection of the national project and the higher Palestinian interests.” At the same time, Abbas accused Hamas of carrying out the assassination attempt against PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Gaza last Tuesday.
The movement called for urgent intervention by all Palestinians and factions, as well as international players, to save the national programme and Palestinian unity and to prevent a disaster before it happens.
Islamic Jihad condemned the PA President’s remarks by insisting that they “threaten the unity of the Palestinian people and give more support for the Israeli occupation and siege of the Gaza Strip.”