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Trump, Abbas to speak for first time today
The Presidents of the US and the Palestinian Authority (PA) will hold their first official conversation later today amid reports that the US special envoy for the peace process is set to visit the region in the coming days.
According to the official White House schedule, President Donald Trump will hold a phone conversation with PA President Mahmoud Abbas at 12.15 pm Washington time.
There was no indication of what the two leaders would discuss and no comment was issued by President Abbas’s office. President Trump has publicly stated his interest in securing the “ultimate deal” of a peace agreement between Israel and the PA.
Today’s call comes with Trump’s special envoy for the peace process, Jason Greenblatt, who is expected to visit Israel and the West Bank in the coming days.
The Walla news site reports that Greenblatt will meet separately with both Abbas and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A senior administration official is quoted saying that Greenblatt will “hear their positions on the current state of affairs and on steps that can be taken to move towards peace”.
PA officials have reportedly complained that they have had little or no contact with the new administration since Trump’s inauguration in January.
By contrast, Netanyahu has been hosted at the White House and held several conversations with Trump, whilst Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Washington this week, meeting US Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary James Mattis.
Jordan’s King Abdullah has also visited Trump at the White House and the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have all held phone conversations with the US President.
Yesterday, Trump’s pick as the next US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, had his candidacy approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His nomination must now be cleared by a vote of the US Senate. Friedman was supportive of a two-state solution during his committee hearing, despite earlier reports of his scepticism, and having previously made donations to Israeli settlement initiatives in the West Bank.