WHITE HOUSE, September 21, 2011 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday will meet US President Barack Obama to discuss the Palestinian request for full United Nations membership of a Palestinian state this Friday, according to the White House.

The meeting with Abbas will follow a meeting scheduled between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot Wednesday reported on US officials saying that Obama will ask Abbas to defer his plan for statehood recognition for a year, in order to give international peacemakers time to produce a statement that would form the basis to resume Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

R.Q./F.J.