(Carnegie Middle East Center-Lebanon) Jake Walles - I recently returned from a visit to Ramallah where I met with senior officials in the Palestinian Authority (PA). To my surprise, my interlocutors showed almost no interest in President Trump's peace plan. My conclusion was that the Palestinian leadership had no expectation that the prospective peace deal would bring anything positive for them. Even if the administration secures a conditional "yes" from the Israeli side and some general expressions of support from Arab states, the Palestinians seem determined to respond with a firm "no." Those with whom I spoke indicated that they remained determined to maintain stability in the West Bank. Senior PA officials confirmed that they were continuing their security coordination with Israel and still maintained some contact for this purpose with the U.S. The writer, former U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia and Consul General in Jerusalem, is a nonresident senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
2019-04-02 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive