PA sought to bring Trump to Arafat’s grave – report

US President Donald Trump will not pass by the grave of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during his visit to Israel and the West Bank later this month, despite reported efforts by the Palestinian Authority to bring him by the site.

According to a report Monday in the Israel Hayom daily, the PA sought to hold a ceremony welcoming Trump at the Muqata’a compound in Ramallah, to which he would have arrived by way of the adjacent mausoleum housing Arafat’s remains.

Citing an unnamed PA official, the report said that the Palestinians intended to keep Trump and his entourage in the dark as to the plan to lead him through the grave site.

However, a second unnamed official from the office of PA President Mahmoud Abbas told the paper that the Palestinians were informed by members of the Secret Service arranging security for Trump’s visit that due to the political and diplomatic sensitivity the US president would not arrive at the Muqata’a by way of the mausoleum.

“Senior officials in the Trump administration got in touch with us and let us know that President Trump could not pass by Arafat’s grave site, as this could produce an embarrassing situation [for him] back home politically, as well as a diplomatic crisis with Israel, and we were asked to find an alternative route,” he said.

The PA official denied that the Palestinians had any intention to bring Trump to the grave itself, saying that the first official was solely intending to stir up controversy.

“It seems that someone was looking to make something out nothing. The Americans asked to avoid the possibility that it would appear as if the [US] president was visiting the grave, even though he was supposed to pass near [the grave] and not by way of it,” he said.

Arafat, who died in 2004, remains a venerated figure among Palestinians, but is seen by many in Israel as an unreformed terrorist who doomed the 2000 Camp David peace talks, orchestrated the suicide bombing onslaught of the Second Intifada that followed, and disseminated a still-prevailing narrative among Palestinians that denies Jews’ history and legitimacy in the Holy Land.

A report last week from Channel 2 said that during his visit to Israel Trump is not expected to visit Ramallah, preferring instead to go to Bethlehem.

Trump is set to arrive in Israel on May 22 for a one-day visit along with his wife, Melania, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, the latter two of whom also serve as his advisers. He will stop first in Saudi Arabia, where he has said he will meet leaders from the Muslim world to discuss fighting terrorism.

Following his trip to Israel, Trump is scheduled to travel to the Vatican, as well as NATO and G7 summits in Brussels and Sicily.

Trump’s visit comes amid efforts by the US president to renew long-dormant peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Last week, Trump hosted Abbas at the White House for a meeting during which he expressed confidence in his ability to broker a peace deal.

“We will get it done. We will be working so hard to get it done. It’s been a long time, but we will be working diligently, and I think there’s a very, very good chance,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Abbas.

The president, who has referred to an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement as “the ultimate deal,” said he would be willing to play whatever role was needed to strike an accord.

Both Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have welcomed Trump’s interest in reviving talks, although the two have also sought to cast blame on each other for the lack of any peace process.

It is not clear if Trump will use his trip to the region to unveil any plans concerning peace talks, but the timing of the visit — coinciding with Jerusalem Day, when Israel will celebrate 50 years since capturing the east of the city during the 1967 Six Day War — has sparked speculation that he might use the trip make a major announcement regarding the city.

Over the course of his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised he would move the embassy, but since assuming office, he has seemingly stepped away from that pledge.

Vice President Mike Pence told American Jewish leaders last week that Trump was still deliberating on the relocation.

“The president of the United States, as we speak, is giving serious consideration into moving the American embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” he said.

Trump will have to make an important decision on the matter.

Congress passed a law in 1995 mandating the embassy be moved to Jerusalem, but it allowed the president to exercise a six-month waiver on national security grounds.

Every president since, including Barack Obama’s predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, signed that waiver every six months.

The last one, signed in December by Obama, expires at the end of May, when Trump will be forced to either sign it or follow through on his campaign promise.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.