Abbas confidante: Americans provided no clarity on two-state solution or settlements

Over the past two weeks, senior Palestinians called on the Trump administration to back the two-state solution and ask Israel to stop building settlements.

By ADAM RASGON
Updated: AUGUST 27, 2017 05:50
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets with US presidential adviser Jared Kushner in the West Bank city of Ramallah August 24, 2017 (photo credit: PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT OFFICE (PPO)/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets with US presidential adviser Jared Kushner in the West Bank city of Ramallah August 24, 2017
(photo credit: PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT OFFICE (PPO)/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
US President Donald Trump’s delegation did not clarify its position on the two-state solution or settlements, Ahmad Majdalani, a confidant of the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said over the weekend.
Senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner, special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt and Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell met with Abbas on Thursday, after meeting with a number of Middle East leaders over the past several days.
“The American delegation did not explain its position on two states or settlement construction,” Majdalani told The Jerusalem Post. “They only asked for more time to carry out consultations.”
The Palestinians “consider giving the Americans additional time for consultations without them taking clear positions as a green light for [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu to destroy the two-state solution and impose facts on the ground through settlement building,” Majdalani added.
Over the past two weeks, the PLO Executive Committee as well as a number of Palestinian officials called on the Trump administration to back the two-state solution and ask Israel to stop building settlements.
In contrast to Majdalani, Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeinah, spoke positively about the PA president’s meeting with the Trump delegation, calling it “constructive” and “deep.”
It is not unusual for various Abbas aides and confidantes to express different opinions and sentiments in the media.