The Palestinian Authority (PA) imposed a boycott on US officials following President Donald Trump’s recognition, in December 2017, of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Earlier this month, Jared Kushner, the architect of the Trump Administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal, stated that his boss and father-in-law was “fond of [PA] President [Mahmoud] Abbas… [and] likes him very much personally.” If the Palestinians are willing to engage, Kushner continued, “I believe they’ll find they have an opportunity. Whether they will be willing to take that opportunity will be up to them.”
Senior Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub recently met in his office in Ramallah, the West Bank, with Mohammad Al-Kassim, The Media Line’s Middle East bureau chief. Rajoub answered a wide variety of questions, from his thoughts on the aftermath of the US-sponsored Bahrain conference, which addressed the financial side of Israeli-Palestinian peace, to his views on the current Israeli government and what it would take for the Palestinians and Americans to reconnect.