Mahmoud Abbas to Attend Shimon Peres Funeral

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, announced Thursday that he will attend former Israeli prime minster Shimon Peres’s funeral the following day. Abbas’s appearance will put him in the same room as current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he has frequently squabbled over the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the lack of peace talks during both of their leadership tenures. Abbas has come under scrutiny for his decision to attend, especially as rival Palestinian group Hamas has condemned the late Peres as a war criminal.