Report: Abbas refused call from Trump ahead of peace plan’s expected release
Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas reportedly refused to take a phone call from U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of the White House’s expected release of its long-awaited Mideast peace plan for the Israelis and Palestinians.
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas makes a statement as he attends the Revolutionary Council Meeting of Fatah Movement at the Palestinian Presidential Office in Ramallah on Dec. 18, 2019. Photo by Flash90.
“There were attempts by Trump to hold a phone call with Abbas, but the latter refused,” an unnamed high-ranking Palestinian official told the state-run Turkish outlet Anadolu.
P.A. Social Affairs Minister Ahmad Majdalani confirmed the Anadolu report to the Gaza-based Dunia al-Watan news site, saying that Abbas recently “refused a phone call from Trump.”
The P.A. stated its rejection of the Trump administration’s peace plan before it has even been made public, as it is reportedly said to be favourable towards the Jewish state. Ramallah cut off contact with Washington after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.
The White House declined to comment, reported The Times of Israel.
The White House did consider inviting Abbas for meetings about the plan, according to Israeli media reports.
JNS
The USA wants a peace deal but no -one is optimistic it will be taken up as the Palestinians are at the minimum looking for a State in the area of the 1949 Lines .
The Deal is a theoretical exercise that will take a long time to get to but paradoxically its is excellent for Fatah .
From Autonomy in 40% of the West Bank they will go to Autonomy in 75-80% of the West Bank and cut off the Israel Strong Right Ideologists from the Centre Right Pragmatics .
But they will not take this .
The other aspect Hamas giving up its weapons Hamas will never do .
The basic situation now but with better humanitarian conditions is the stable way and this is the way it will be for the next decades .