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Report: U.S. Peace Plan Triggered Abbas Speech
(Jerusalem Post) Gil Hoffman - Ben Caspit reported in Maariv last week that PA President Mahmoud Abbas was angered by the preliminary reports of President Trump's peace plan that the Saudis had given him. According to the report and another on Hadashot (formerly Channel 2) news on Tuesday, the U.S. plan would create a Palestinian entity that is less than a state, and it would not be based on the pre-1967 lines. Israel would control its borders and the Jordan Valley, Jerusalem would be an issue for negotiations, settlements might not have to be removed, and the Palestinian refugee issue would not be addressed. Caspit quoted senior officials close to Abbas saying last week, "We understood that Trump's declaration [on Jerusalem] did not really matter and had no impact on what is happening on the ground. We just used the declaration as a preemptive strike to torpedo the negotiations before the Americans finished drafting their peace plan, so we wouldn't have to reject it publicly later on." A senior White House official told the Post, "It is unfortunate that the Palestinian leadership is seeking to prejudice people against our unfinished plan, which they have not seen....In the meantime, we will remain hard at work on a draft plan that benefits both sides."