Ronald Lauder met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, Jordan on Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post has learned.A source with knowledge of the matter confirmed that the meeting did take place but was unable to provide any detail regarding the discussion itself, adding that Lauder was not acting in his official capacity as President of the World Jewish Congress.Asked for comment, a WJC spokesman said that he was “told that Ronald Lauder’s meeting with Abbas was private and that at the moment there is no further information or comment about it.”The pair had previously met in London in 2012. While Lauder recently told attendees at the Post’s annual conference in New York that “no serious discussion about peace for the Jewish people of Israel can take place without a strong agreement for a viable two-state solution,” he has also been a consistent critic of Abbas.Speaking with the Post last year, Lauder said that Abbas does not want peace.The Palestinian leader “could not have done more to destroy the peace process,” he alleged.After the initial publication of this story another source close to Lauder told the Post that Tuesday's had only been the most recent in a series of several “very positive meetings,” adding that “today’s could not have been better.”
According to the source, Lauder and Abbas “agreed that now is a critical and urgent time for Israel and the Palestinians to reach a peace agreement."
