Trump invites Palestinian leader to White House
A RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said President Donald Trump on Friday invited him to visit the White House to discuss resuming peace talks. It was the first contact between the two leaders since Trump took office in January.
Spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Abbas received “a very important call” in which Trump extended the invitation, and that Abbas would make the trip “very soon.” White House press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed the conversation. “We are ready to deal with President Trump and the Israeli government to resume the negotiations,” Abu Rdeneh said. “If the Israelis are ready, President Abbas has committed himself to a peaceful deal with President Trump.”
Abu Rdeneh added that “President Trump is a very honest man, very courageous man, looking for a deal, a just deal.”
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli government.
The last round of U.S.-mediated peace talks collapsed in 2014.
In his efforts to secure Palestinian statehood, Abbas has spent many hours on the phone and in meetings with U.S. presidents and secretaries of state over the past decade, but has been unsuccessful when reaching out to Trump — until now.
Trump is unpopular among Palestinians because he appeared to break from his predecessor and adopt friendlier positions toward the Israeli government. He has been ambivalent toward the long-accepted plan to establish a side-by-side Palestinian state with Israel, he’s considering moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which the Palestinians seek as the capital of their future state, and he has adopted a more lenient approach to Israel building settlements in territory claimed by the Palestinians. Also, Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, is a supporter of the settlements.
However, Trump’s administration last week warned Israel against taking the step of annexing parts of the occupied West Bank where it has built settlements, saying it would trigger an “immediate crisis” between the two allies.
The move suggested Trump may be returning to more traditional U.S. policy and will not give Israel free rein to expand its control over the West Bank.