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Palestine’s Abbas refuses to take calls from US’ Trump

January 28, 2020 at 10:49 am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas holds a press conference at the Presidency Building in Ramallah, West Bank on 3 July 2019 [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]

Palestinian Authority (PA), PLO and Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday refused to answer a call from US President Donald Trump, Anadolu reported yesterday.

Senior aide of Abbas, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Anadolu that Trump had attempted to speak with Abbas on the phone several times over the past few days, but the Palestinian president refused to take his calls. Abbas’ aide did not give more details.

PA-US relations collapsed in 2017 when Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital and relocated the US embassy to the occupied Palestinian holy city.

READ: Deal of the century offers non-sovereign Palestinian state

Trump is today expected to reveal details of his long awaited peace initiative for the Middle East, dubbed the “deal of the century”.

Palestinians have already rejected the plan because it is expected to provide them no claim to occupied Jerusalem and removes the right of Palestinian refugees to return from future negotiations.

Senior Abbas aide, Nabil Abu Rideineh, warned yesterday that the deal of the century could push the PA to dissolve itself.