Trump adviser to update Israeli minister on Trump-Abbas meeting

Israeli minister Tzachi Hanegbi will reportedly fly to Brussels Thursday to meet with a top US official for an update on talks between US President Donald Trump and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

On the sidelines of Thursday’s Ad Hoc Liason Committee summit in Brussels, Trump’s Special Envoy for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt will meet with Hanegbi, the regional cooperation minister, and share the details of the Trump-Abbas confab, Channel 2 News reported.

The AHCL is a 15-member committee that coordinates international donor support for the Palestinians. Greenblatt and Hanegbi will be attending the bi-annual summit as observers.

On Wednesday, Trump hosted Abbas at the White House for a first meeting between the two, expressing high hopes that he can help the sides reach a long-sought peace agreement and saying a deal is not as difficult as others have made it out to be.

“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 in the ornate Roosevelt Room of the White House.

During the joint statements, Abbas used his remarks to list Palestinian priorities for reaching a deal.

“Our strategic option is to bring about peace based on the vision of the two-state [solution], a Palestinian state with its capital of East Jerusalem that lives in peace and stability with the state of Israel, based on the borders of 1967,” he said.

Following the press conference, the two leaders sat down for a private working lunch with key advisers, including Greenblatt.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the two discussed a wide range of issues, including boosting the Palestinian economy and strengthening efforts to defeat terror.

He also “raised concerns” over Palestinian payments for terror convicts in Israeli prison.

Trump “emphasized the need to resolve this issue,” Spicer said.