Report: MbS Offered Abbas $10 Billion to Accept Trump Peace Plan

According to Arab media, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, often referred to simply as MbS, offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas $1 billion every year for a decade – the near-equivalent of Ramallah’s annual budget – to accept the US peace plan slated for release in June. Abbas traveled to Riyadh in February to discuss with bin Salman details of US President Donald Trump’s so-called deal of the century to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinian leader reportedly rejected the offer on the grounds that agreeing to Trump’s terms would “mean the end of [Abbas’s] political life.” Meanwhile, Jordan’s envoy to Ramallah was quoted as saying that the US initiative “will change the foundations of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Sinai [Peninsula] and even the Gulf states. Sinai will become a solution… for the establishment of a Palestinian state, and what’s left of the West Bank will become cantons under Jordan’s administrative rule and Israel’s security control.” Last week, lead American Middle East negotiator Jason Greenblatt denied speculation that the peace plan included a confederation involving Jordan or that it designated parts of the Hashemite Kingdom as autonomous Palestinian territory. Abbas imposed a boycott on all US officials after Trump in December 2017 recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Since then, he has repeatedly vowed to torpedo the White House’s peace proposal.