President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas meet in 2008 (Photo Courtesy The White House)

The meeting will come after an already scheduled sit-down with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.

The gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly later this week is going to be the backdrop for a controversial move in which the Palestinians are going to make a bid for official statehood.

"With both the Israelis and the Palestinians the president will be able to say very directly why we believe action at the United Nations is not the way ... to achieve a (Palestinian) state," Obama's deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes said, according to Reuters.

Abbas is slated to address the General Assembly on Friday.

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