US President Donald Trump reportedly told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting Tuesday that he plans to announce a new peace initiative in the coming weeks, according to the pan-Arabic newspaper Al Hayat.
The newspaper quotes a senior source as saying that Trump and his team are still studying the new initiative, and he is expected to announce it within a month.
Trump speaking in Bethlehem after meeting with Abbas
- According to the source, the peace initiative will set a time limit for talks, during which the sides will negotiate each of the core issue separately.
"Trump wants a separate agreement on each issue and, in that way, they'll eventually reach the big deal, which is a final-status peace agreement between the sides," the source told Al Hayat.
Meanwhile, Abbas's senior economic advisor Mohammad Mustafa said the Palestinian asked Trump for significant economic changes beyond the economic relief measures Israel has proposed. Among other things, the Palestinians have asked for economic freedom in the Israeli-controlled Area C of the West Bank and changes to the 1994 Paris Protocol, which is an agreement on economic relations between Israel and the PLO.