Mahmoud Abbas is determined to join the ICC
Mahmoud Abbas is determined to join the ICCReuters

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will visit Stockholm next month after Sweden became the first major state of the European Union to recognize the PA as "Palestine," the Swedish government announced Friday.

"The visit of president Abbas, by invitation from the prime minister, is confirmed for February 10," foreign ministry spokeswoman Ulla Jacobson told AFP. "He will also meet the foreign minister, the king and the archbishop."

She said the agenda would include the Arab-Israeli peace process and "what Sweden can offer after (its) recognition" of "Palestine" in October.

The announcement of Sweden's recognition of "Palestine" in late October saw withering verbal jabs about IKEA furniture between Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallstrom, as well as Swedish financial institutions boycotting Israeli companies.

Most recently, Wallstrom announced she was indefinitely postponing a planned trip to Israel; Israel responded that Wallstrom was not welcome for an official visit in the country.