T. Belman. Two reports are referred to in this article and they are in conflict with each other. Which to believe? Neither. While each contains a bit of truth they are far from the whole truth. But this is true “what’s left of the West Bank will become cantons under Jordan’s administrative rule and Israel’s security control” This is what I have been reporting all along.
A senior Palestinian official in Ramallah refused to comment on the report.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas $10 billion if he accepts US President Donald Trump’s plan for peace in the Middle East, also known as the “deal of the century,” the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday.
A senior Palestinian official in Ramallah refused to comment on the report.
Referring to meetings between the Saudi crown prince and Abbas, the newspaper said that “according to information obtained by Al-Akhbar, Salman briefed Abbas about the details of the deal of the century and asked him to accept it. According to the information, Salman asked Abbas: What is the annual budget of your entourage? Abbas replied: I’m not a prince to have my own entourage.”
At the stage, according to the newspaper, the Saudi crown prince asked Abbas “How much money does the Palestinian Authority and its ministers and employees need?”
Abbas replied that the Palestinians need $1 billion each year, the report said. “I will give you $10 billion over 10 years if you accept the deal of the century,” Salman was quoted as telling Abbas.
Abbas, however, rejected the offer and said it would “mean the end of my political life,” the report added.
Al-Akhbar said that the conversation between Salman and Abbas was based on reports written by the Jordanian envoy to Ramallah, Khaled al-Shawabkeh.
The envoy’s report, which was sent to the Jordanian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, was reportedly based on briefings he had with senior Palestinian officials in Ramallah.
The newspaper quoted the Jordanian envoy’s report as saying that the Saudi crown prince also told Abbas that the Trump administration was prepared to give the Palestinians the land which they already live on.
Salman also told Abbas – according to the report – that Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries would provide financial support to the Palestinians and help them launch projects in the West Bank that will lead to economic prosperity, while expanding Palestinian control over areas B and C. “Saudi Arabia will support the Palestinian Authority with more than $4b.,” Salman reportedly told Abbas.
“Abbas explained to Salman the current situation, and said that he would be unable to make any concessions regarding the settlements, the two-state solution and Jerusalem, and that any pressure will push the Palestinian Authority to dissolve its institutions and hold Israel responsible for managing the affairs of the Palestinians [in the West Bank].”
In another report by the Jordanian envoy, Abbas’s adviser, Mahmoud Habbash, is said to have criticized Egypt for its “inexperience” and for having too much confidence in the Americans, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Habbash claimed that the Saudi message to Abbas was that he should accept Trump’s upcoming plan, the report said.
It further quoted Habbash as warning: “The ‘deal of the century’ will change the foundations of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Sinai and even the Gulf states. Sinai will become a solution to the proposals 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.”
The newspaper said that the reports sent from the Jordanian envoy in Ramallah to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Amman “demonstrate the extent of Jordan’s concern over the repercussions of the deal of the century.”
The Jordanian concern is understandable, the newspaper added, “especially after the American and Israeli media revealed the heavy tax that Jordan will be required to pay with regards to the possibility of resettling the Palestinians in the kingdom, withdrawing the Hashemite guardianship over the holy sites in Jerusalem and granting it to Saudi Arabia, and the possibility of slicing lands from Jordan’s eastern border that would be given to the Palestinians, in return for lands that will be given to Jordan from northern parts of Saudi Arabia.”
Jason Greenblatt, US Special Representative for International Negotiations, last week denied rumors that the “deal of the century” would include a confederation involving Jordan, Israel and the PA. “King Abdullah II and Jordan are strong US allies,” he said on Twitter. “Rumors that our peace vision includes a confederation between Jordan, Israel & the PA, or that the vision contemplates making Jordan the homeland for Palestinians, are incorrect. Please don’t spread rumors.”
This article by Abu Khaled contains a major internal contradiction. But its difficult to tell which of his informants is telling the truth and which is generating false news. His Arab informs seem to have told him that the Trump “deal” is very close to the Belman-Zahran plan. But Greenblatt, who is after one of the people working on the plan, denies these reports. He also affirms the Trump administrations continued support for King Abdullah. Who do your think, Ted, is telling the truth here, and who is spreading fake news. What news in this report is authentic, and what is fake.
@ Ted Belman: I’ll do my best, Ted!
@ Adam Dalgliesh: Ted, I just mentioned you and Mudar Zahran in my last post!
@ Adam Dalgiesh:
In your comments you made no mention of me and the Joprdan Option.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
GET READY
New Developments in Jordan confirms many things that have written by Mudar Zahran, Ted and many other people about the instability in Jordan, and the key role of Military Intelligence there.
Ted, what, specifically, did you tell me that I ignored?
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
The problem is you ignore what I tell you.
@ Ted Belman: Absolutely on target, Ted.
I’m not sure that a Trump plan, or at any rate one single plan, actually exist. What actually has been circulated to Israel and some parties to the dispute may be two or more “probes,” some of them containing contradictory provision, which the administration has sent at various times over the past year to Israel , the PLO, and some of the Arab states with whom Israel has normal relations. Possibly, the purpose of these “probes” is to find out what concessions each side is prepared to make, in order to see if some sort of common ground
can be found between Israel and Fatah-PLO (under pressure from US sanctions and Saudi promises of financial support) on the eventual outlines of a “deal of the century,” which yet to be formulated in final form, if it ever will. What may exist now is several possible “options” for a settlement, which contain some elelments which contradict each other. While somewhat deceptive, this is an effective strategy for apply pressure on both sides to “do a deal.” It’s quite true that Trump has experience in deal- making and knows the tricks of the trade.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Yes you are correct. I inteded to check out my number after I made the comment. You and I know that the Gulf states are always pleging money and never delivering.
Arab League pledges $100 million a month to budget-stricken Palestinians. This was to offest the loss of $138 million deducted by israel. I read later that the money was not forthcoming.
But I do believe that Abbas was offered money to accept the trump plan. What counts is what he gets upfront. The rest can’t be counted on.
But the thrust of this article and how the arabic press dealt with it was to show that abbas refused to sell out the Palestinian cause.
@ Ted Belman: As I understand the JP report, MBS allegedy offered the PLO 1 billion per year, or ten billion over ten years, if he accepts the Trump plan. He never offered the PLO 10 billion every year. The article also contains an inconsistency, saying towards the end that MBS actually only committed Saudi Arabia to 4 billion in assistance over this ten year period. Perhaps MBS told Abbas that he could raise the remaing 6 billion from the other Gulf states.
@ Bear Klein:I agree with Bear that we won’t know what the Trump proposed “deal” is until and unless the Trump administration decides to make it public.
Bear and Ted, just to clarify what I meant: I only meant to say that I thought that Abu Khaled’s summary of what he says appeared in a Lebanese newspaper about the Trump plan was accurate. Not that the Lebanese newspaper was accurate about what the Trump plan was.
I also think it very likely, although by no means certain, that the Lebanese newspapers discussion of a Saudi proposal that the PLO should accept the Trump plan in return for Saudi money, that the Mahmoud Abbas rejected the offer, and that the Jordanian Foreign Ministry agreed with Abbas’ rejection of the Saudi offer, are also accurate. However, even if the Lebanese newspaper (as summarized in the Jerusalem Post) is accurate about these inter-Arab discussions about the Trump plan, that still tells us nothing about what the true contents of the Trump “deal of the century.”
@ Ted Belman:Adam, said this I did NOT!
I am the one who said the articles about the Trump plan are speculative and yes you may be correct some of it maybe false or misleading. Except for what Kushner or Greenblatt have informed us of publicly I am waiting to see what is in the report, when it comes out. I have zero confidence in ALL other sources or speculations.
@ Bear Klein:
What you left out is that most news on the matter is false news intended to mislead. Its not stupidity or speculation.
Bear Klein Said:
I do. The total foreign aid the Palestinians get is about $1.3 B/year.
There is no way MBS offered them $10B/yr for 10 years.
Likely per Kushner & Greenblatt we will find out in June of this year what the Trump plan. Since writers nowadays are under pressure to write something they will print speculation with a mx of news or just speculation. Including what the Trump plan is or is NOT.
Unfortunately this will continue until it is out. People use these speculative articles to point why they are true if it buttresses their preferred course of action. If not then clearly the article is false. So speculation creates its own wind sort of like a fire.
I see no reason to doubt the accuracy of this report. Whatever his national loyalties may be–Abu Khaled describes himself as both an Israeli and a Palestinian–his reporting is usually accurate and informative. Undoubtedly he has reliable dources in the PLO and Jordan.
Another source for this story–World Israel News– says that MBS first asked Abbas–how much money his “entourage”requires. When Abbas then denied he had an ‘entourage,” saying “he was not a royal person” (an obvious dig at MBS–MBS is said to have modified his question to “what do the PA’s officials and government require on a yearly basis–and the answer came back 1 billion dollars.
Abbas seems to have repeated his offer, which he has mademany times before and even to the United nations–to turn over control of Judea-Samaria to Israel. Obviously, he wants to take the money and run, probably back to PLO headquarters in Tunisia. But Israel keeps refusing his offer! The Israeli military and the Prime Minister are instead begging Abbas to remain in charge! Self-destructive madness!