On Thursday, the Times of Israel reported that the leaders of Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority would separately meet with President Donald Trump at the White House in April.
King Abdullah II of Jordan, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority met on the sidelines of the Arab League summit in Jordan on Wednesday to coordinate their positions on the Palestinian issue before meeting with Trump, according to a statement from the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.
According to a U.S. official who spoke to the Times of Israel, Sisi’s meeting with Trump will be held on April 3rd, while King Abdullah will visit on April 5th.
The date for Abbas’s visit has not yet been announced, but it should occur soon after Abdullah’s. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it would “evaluate the results and outcomes” of Trump’s talks with Sisi and Abdullah before determining the “shape and nature” of Abbas’s agenda.
TOI notes that Trump’s early enthusiasm for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem seems to have faded, and his administration seems more oriented toward the traditional “two-state solution” than it was in January.
In fact, Trump’s envoy to the Arab League summit, Jason Greenblatt, said the president believes a deal between the Israelis and Palestinians is “not only possible, but would reverberate positively throughout the region and the world.”
The Associated Press notes that members of the Arab summit expressed support for “a 2002 peace plan that offers Israel normal ties if it cedes lands it captured in the 1967 Mideast war to a future Palestinian state,” and “urged countries around the world not to move their diplomatic missions in Israel to contested Jerusalem.”
Reuters portrays the summiteers as “rattled by Trump” and eager to send him a message about their support for Palestinian statehood. That includes King Abdullah, who criticized Israel for “continuing to expand settlements and wreck chances of peace.”
“There is no peace or stability in the region without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian cause through a two-state solution,” said Abdullah.
Abbas said much the same thing at the summit: “The Israeli government has since 2009 worked on wrecking the two-state solution by accelerating the tempo of settlements and the confiscation of land.”