The White House leveled criticism at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday, a day after Israel Hayom reported that the Palestinian leader was demanding the ouster of a leading member of the U.S. team attempting to mediate peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
A senior PA official and close associate of Abbas told Israel Hayom that Abbas was demanding that U.S. President Donald Trump's Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt be replaced as mediator because of his alleged pro-Israel bias.
The official said that Abbas had set Greenblatt's ouster as a condition for ending the PA's boycott of the Trump administration, which Abbas declared in December 2017 following the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
National Security Council spokesperson Garrett Marquis shot back on Wednesday saying: "Rather than engage in personal attacks against Jason Greenblatt or other members of the administration, we continue to hope that the Palestinian Authority will engage with the U.S. positively and constructively to advance our mutual goal of a better future for the Palestinian people."
Marquis also poured cold water on the Israeli news report Tuesday that suggested that Trump's efforts to convince Abbas to meet him at the U.N. later this month were rebuffed. Marquis clarified that the "report that President Trump requested a meeting with President Abbas is untrue. Channel 2 unfortunately continues to broadcast misleading reports without checking their veracity."
Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah attacked recent reports that a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation had been suggested as a possible solution in talks between Abbas and American negotiators.
"Jordan views such an initiative as a red line," Abdullah said, adding that Jordan "still believes that that two-state vision is the ideal solution, and we will not let any international initiative bring about changes within Jordan."
According to Israeli lawmakers who met with Abbas, the idea of a confederation was raised by U.S. negotiators in a meeting with the Palestinian president. He reportedly said he would support such a move only if Israel was on board.
But Palestinian and Jordanian sources have told Israel Hayom that Abbas decided to speak about the matter publicly because he knows the proposal has no real chance of materializing.
