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PA input unwanted in ‘Deal of the Century’

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Ramallah, unlike Jerusalem, will not see the U.S. plan for a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement until it is unveiled.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The Palestinian Authority (PA) will not see the American peace plan before it’s presented to the world, Ma’ariv reported on Wednesday.

Ramallah, which broke off relations with the Trump administration after the U.S. Embassy was moved to Jerusalem in May, has reportedly offered to help in crafting the parameters of the agreement but was turned down. The report did not state when the offer was made.

This means that if and when the two sides return to the negotiating table, the Palestinian Authority will have the distinct disadvantage of not having been given any specific prior knowledge of its contents – versus the Israelis, whose input was requested.

The report also stated that once the long-awaited American deal is unveiled, its crafters, Trump son-in-law and special assistant Jared Kushner and US Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt, will step aside. A new diplomatic team will take over the mediating role during the actual talks between the two sides.

Various events in the region have contributed to the postponement of the plan’s rollout. At the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly in September, U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned that he wanted the peace process to start within two to four months. Unnamed U.S. officials have now said that the plan most likely will not be unveiled until March or April. Of course, if elections in Israel are moved up from November, which is a possibility, the timetable for releasing the plan would most likely be pushed off once again.

The decision to freeze the Palestinians out of the formulating process – yet another blow to add to the funding cuts from the Trump administration – naturally angered them.

Kushner, who is a business tycoon like his father-in-law, believes the Palestinians will come to the table once the plan comes out. As he said in September, after the administration closed the PLO office in Washington, “In every negotiation I’ve ever been in, before somebody gets to ‘yes,’ their answer is ‘no.’”