Report: Russia trying to organize US-Palestinian summit to jumpstart ties

Russia is working on organizing a meeting between US and Palestinian officials in Geneva in the coming weeks in order to jumpstart ties between Washington and Ramallah which have all but dissipated in the Trump era, Channel 13 reports.

The goal of the meeting is to allow the Palestinian Authority the opportunity to offer changes to the Trump peace plan and prevent an escalation on the ground.

The report cites Western diplomatic officials who say the UN and the EU are involved in the Russian effort and see it as an opportunity to prevent the implementation of Israeli plans to annex the West Bank.

“The only way to prevent annexation is to renew relations between the Palestinians and the American administration,” a Western diplomat tells Channel 13.

In order to overcome the two-and-a-half-year Palestinian boycott of the Trump administration, the Russians are proposing that a mini-summit, which will also be attended by representatives from the Quartet — the EU, the UN, the US and Russia — addition to representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the Palestinians. It is not clear yet whether Israel will also be invited to the summit, Channel 13 reports.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and US peace envoy Avi Berkowitz spoke by phone Tuesday to discuss the proposed meeting. Sources familiar with the call tell Channel 13 that Berkowitz did not reject the initiative out of hand, but said the condition for American participation would be that the meeting would deal with the Trump plan and that the Palestinians should come with alterations they’d like to see be made to it.

Bogdanov also phoned PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat yesterday to discuss the initiative. Erekat did not reject the idea either, but also did not give a definitive answer whether the PA would attend such a summit