Ever since Adel Abdul Mahdi became the prime minister of Iraq, Palestinian officials have been encouraged to go to Baghdad. They were told that the new Iraqi prime minister who, according to PLO officials in Ramallah, spent time in the 1980s in Lebanon and was very close to the PLO at the time, and his team have a genuine love for Palestine and are willing to translate this into strategic support.
Nabil Shaath, senior international affairs adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, paid a five-day visit to Iraq on June 23-27, where he met senior Iraqi officials and gave a series of lectures. After his return to Ramallah, Shaath told Al-Monitor that the trip was successful, saying that Iraq is coming back strong, is united and diverse and its prime minister has a genuine love for Palestine.