From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Trump envoy said to meet senior Palestinian official in Saudi Arabia
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleUS President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met today with a top adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in the first meeting between a Palestinian official and a member of the new US administration since the November election, according to Axios.
According to the report, which cites two unnamed sources with knowledge of the meeting, Witkoff sat down in Saudi Arabia with Hussein al-Sheikh following weeks of back-channel communications, amid efforts in Riyadh to reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and potentially broker an Israeli-Saudi normalization deal.
The Saudis have been adamant that any such agreement include a viable pathway toward a Palestinian state, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has ruled out.
The Times of Israel Community.