Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud AbbasReuters

The Trump administration offered a plan to the Palestinian Authority for a final status agreement with Israel which would include the establishment of a “confederation” between the PA and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, PA chief Mahmoud Abbas claimed in talks with the left-wing Peace Now organization.

According to sources within Peace Now on Sunday, representatives of the Trump administration, including President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, and special envoy Jason Greenblatt, recently asked Abbas if he would accept a final status agreement which included a confederation between the Kingdom of Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

During a meeting with Peace Now members on Sunday, Abbas claimed that he said he could accept the arrangement – provided the confederation also include Israel.

“They asked me if I believe in a federation with Jordan,” Abbas said at the gathering. “I said, ‘Yes, I support a triple confederation with Jordan and with Israel’. I asked if the Israelis would agree to the offer.”

The meeting was attended by Peace Now chief Shaked Morag, Meretz MK Moshe ‘Mossi’ Raz, and Zionist Union MK Ksenia Svetlova, among others.

Abbas also claimed that under President Trump, the US had become hostile towards the Palestinian Authority, and had “shut down the peace process.”

“The US wants to completely ruin UNRWA,” Abbas added, referring to the Trump administration’s recent announcement that it would cease all funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The US first announced a cut $300 million from its annual contribution to the agency. On Friday, the administration said it would cease all financial support for the agency.

“Seventy-percent of the residents of the Gaza Strip are refugees,” Abbas claimed during the meeting with Peace Now members. Most of them are dependent on UNRWA support. So President Trump says to stop funding UNRWA, but to give humanitarian aid to Gaza residents. How can you end aid to UNRWA on one hand, while on the other hand giving humanitarian aid to Palestinians?”

The 82-year-old PA leader said that President Trump had expressed his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state, which Trump said should be demilitarized and protected by the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance.

“I met with Trump four times,” Abbas said. “He said that he favors the idea of a demilitarized [Palestinian] state, and that NATO would provide security.”

Abbas said, however, that negotiations would not proceed with Israeli premier Binyamin Netanyahu in power.

“I have a problem with Netanyahu, not with the Likud,” saying that the Israeli leader had refused overtures by Russia, Japan, the Netherlands, and Belgium for peace talks.

Abbas added that he is opposed to President Trump’s yet-to-be-released plan for a final status agreement.