Trump tells Palestinians: Negotiate or we pull aid

DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to write off the Palestinian leadership and withdraw further U.S. aid if Palestinians are not serious about negotiating peace with Israel, deepening a diplomatic rift and putting Trump’s hopes for a historic agreement on hold.

Trump cast doubt on whether talks could happen now, and blamed Palestinian intransigence rather than his decision to shift decades of U.S. policy on the status of Jerusalem.

“That money is on the table, and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace,” Trump said of the hundreds of millions in U.S. aid for the Palestinians. “Because I can tell you that Israel does want to make peace. And they’re going to have to want to make peace too, or we’re going to have nothing to do with it any longer.”

A State Department official confirmed that all U.S. aid to the Palestinians is under review, though nothing has been decided other than a previously announced US$100 million cut to the United Nations agency that focuses on Palestinian needs.

The UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees made up about half of the US$700 million the U.S. donated last year, most of it for economic programs.

Sitting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the global economic forum here, Trump said that his decision last month to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital had removed a major obstacle to a deal.

Trump also described an accelerated timetable for moving “a small version” of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.