A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council denied Thursday night Israeli reports that the American administration had secretly dispatched Ron Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, to the Palestinian Authority to persuade the Palestinians to resume negotiations for a peace deal with Israel.
Israel's Channel 13 reported Thursday that Lauder had been sent to Ramallah to hold talks without informing Israel or Trump's special Middle East envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt.
According to the report, Lauder met with PA negotiator Saeb Erekat and PA Intelligent Services chief Majid Faraj, a confidant of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
Channel 13 reported that Lauder had been charged with delivering the message that Abbas should return to the negotiating table, as he was likely to be "surprised" by the terms outlined in U.S. President Donald Trump's "deal of the century."
"The report is false," National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis told Israel Hayom. "Ambassador Lauder is a friend of the president but he was not sent by the White House to meet with the Palestinians on the president's behalf – secretly or otherwise."
In April, Greenblatt tweeted that "no one will be fully pleased" with the much-vaunted American plan for a peaceful end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a joint statement with U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, Greenblatt said that "no one will be fully pleased with our proposal, but that's the way it must be if real peace is to be achieved. Peace can only succeed if it is based on realities."
