‘Arab leaders pressuring Palestinians to accept Trump plan’

Arab leaders are pressuring the Palestinian Authority to accept the peace plan drawn up by the Trump administration, which is expected to be released this June, a source within the Palestinian Authority claims.

According to a report over the weekend by the Qatari Alkhaleej Online outlet, a member of the Central Committee of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ ruling Fatah party said that Arab leaders are applying “political and financial pressure” on the Palestinian Authority to accept the so-called ‘Deal of the Century’ – a framework for a final status agreement between Israel and the PA drawn up by the White House.

The effort to force the PA into accepting the deal is reportedly being led by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Fatah official.

“There are Arab countries, in particular Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which take great interest in the American deal, and are using everything available at their disposal, including political and financial pressure, to make sure that the Palestinians accept the deal, despite the risks it involves for Palestinian interests.”

On Sunday, PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas pushed back on calls for the PA to accept the Trump deal, telling a gathering of foreign ministers from Arab League member states that recently reelected Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was uninterested in peace, and that the Trump administration had disqualified itself as a peace broker.

“After the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of the US Embassy to it, the cessation of aid to UNRWA, and the closure of the Office of the PLO in Washington, what remains of the Deal of the Century?”