Abbas holds phone talk with outgoing Israeli president

Ramallah (Palestine), July 7: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday expressed the hope that peace will be achieved soon between Israel and Palestine, during a phone talk with outgoing Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin.
Rivlin thanked Abbas for making the phone call, which is rare between the two presidents, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The report didn't disclose more details on the content of the conversation.
The phone talk was coordinated by Ghassan Alian, the Israeli government coordinator in the Palestinian territories, reported the Israel Radio.
The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been stalled since April 2014 after the United States had sponsored the peace negotiations for nine months without making any tangible progress.
Rivlin is due to leave office this week at the end of his seven-year term. In June, Israel's parliament, or Knesset, chose Isaac Herzog as the new Israeli president, who will be sworn in at an official ceremony on July 9.
Source: Xinhua