U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet this week with his senior advisers on the roll out schedule for his proposed peace plan for the Middle East, according to a report broadcast on Israel’s Channel 10.
Those who are to attend the meeting — which was planned more than a month ago — include Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton, senior White House adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, U.S. Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
Israel’s current political instability, however, may be a major factor in determining whether the plan will be announced, or held back for a more auspicious time, according to unnamed U.S. officials who were quoted by Channel 10.
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has already rejected the plan, sight unseen, saying earlier this month in a recorded speech aired on PA TV, “The ‘deal of the century’ will not pass and the fate of the land of Palestine will be decided by the Palestinian people.”
Abbas said he would only accept a plan that secures “the independence and the sovereignty of the Palestinian people on their land in the 1967 territories with East al-Quds (Jerusalem -ed.) as its capital… We will remain on our land and continue to act. We adhere to our principles. Our flag will continue to be raised on the walls of al-Quds.”
In Gaza, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri similarly said in a statement, that the terrorist organization would never allow the “deal” to be implemented.