President Donald Trump will play peacemaker at the White House on Wednesday, meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas as part of an effort to end the long-running Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Trump offered himself as a "mediator, arbiter or facilitator" to help reach a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine, but said, "Any agreement can not be imposed by the USA or any other nations". "The fact that Trump, a populist president who clearly supports Israel asks a representative of the Palestinian people to cut pensions to prisoners.it's just a freakish thing to do".
President Donald Trump is moving forward with his plans to broker the ultimate deal: peace in the Middle East.
Abbas' White House talks follow a mid-February visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who moved quickly to reset ties after a frequently combative relationship with the Republican president's predecessor, Democratic President Barack Obama.
Successive presidents have declined to do so despite having congressional authorization under the Jerusalem Embassy Act, warning that the move could endanger US security and potentially upend peace talks between Israel and Palestine. And I think if he can deliver something that is better than the mess we're in now - the occupation of 50 years, the settlements that they're not stopping - I think it will be seen as positive.
The Palestinians want to set up a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
Trump's pro-Israel rhetoric during the 2016 election campaign raised concern among Palestinians about whether their leaders will get a fair hearing. Such a move would be a marked change from U.S. policy since Bill Clinton's tenure which, alongside the UN, EU, Arab League and others, has been to promote the idea of a peace deal involving a Palestinian state.
Mr Trump is reportedly visiting Israel at the end of the month.
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But according to former White House official Dennis Ross, Trump is in some ways helping Abbas by extending the White House invite.
"Instead, Trump and his team should focus on incremental steps to improve the situation on the ground, preserve the possibility of the two-state solution at another time, and set conditions for negotiations in the future".
Israel Radio reported statements from senior Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) official and adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Ahmad Majdalani claiming that Netanyahu's negotiator Yitzchak Molcho and Erekat ratified a document in 2014 permitting the PLO's treasury to be responsible for paying the stipends instead of the Palestinian Authority (PA). He also expressed that his preferred solution was to return to the borders of 1967 between Israel and Palestine.
Brushing aside the complexities of a decades-old conflict that has bedevilled successive United States leaders, Trump told Abbas that together with the Israelis they could bag "the toughest deal to make".
Abbas implicitly rejected the accusation, telling Trump, "We are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace". "We believe you're willing, and if you both are willing, we're going to make a deal", Trump added.
"Abbas applauds himself alone in Washington", read one headline in Al-Resaleh, a pro-Hamas website.
"Trump focused on calling the Palestinians to stop incitement in the media and boost the security coordination (with Israel) in return for resuming the U.S. financial aid to the Palestinians and maybe it has made a decision to postpone moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem", el-Masri told Xinhua.
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