Trump to press Abbas on rewarding terrorists, attackers

US President Donald Trump will press Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to end payments to families of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails, according to US officials, one of several actions Washington believes could lead to resumed peace talks with Israel.

Other actions include an end to Palestinian anti-Israel rhetoric and incitement of violence, said officials familiar with planning for the meeting. It will be Trump and Abbas’ first face-to-face discussion.

“We hope this will be a new beginning,” Abbas told Palestinians at a meeting in Washington last night.

He blamed the lack of dialogue in recent years on the Israeli government, saying its leaders “have no political vision,” and reiterated his demands for an independent Palestinian state along pre-1967 lines, with east Jerusalem as its capital.

“Without this we will not accept any solution,” said Abbas, who touted an Arab League peace plan that offers Israel diplomatic relations with the Muslim world for a Palestinian state. “There is no alternative.”

— AP

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