Report: Abbas Met With U.S. Businessmen to Establish Trump Back Channel
Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with American businessmen in Ramallah earlier this month in an attempt to set up a back channel for contacts with the incoming administration of Donald Trump.
On Jan. 2, Abbas met in Ramallah with hedge fund manager Daniel Arbess, who is Jewish, and with the Palestinian billionaire Adnan Mjalli, who owns businesses in the US and elsewhere, The Times of Israel reported Friday.
The purpose of the meeting was to set up an indirect diplomatic channel between Abbas and President-elect Donald Trump via the businessmen, the report said.
Arbess was dispatched to Ramallah to send messages to Abbas and relay his responses back to Washington, ahead of Trump’s inauguration on January 20. However, he was not directly sent by Trump.
Arbess is considered to be close to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is expected to take up a senior White House role in the new administration.
During the meeting, Arbess convinced Abbas that Trump is serious about moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to Haaretz, which first reported on the meeting.
However, last week, Abbas told members of Israel’s left-wing Meretz party he did not believe Trump would move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Also present at the meeting was senior Palestine Liberation Organization negotiator Saeb Erekat and Palestinian security chief Majed Faraj.
On Jan. 2, Abbas met in Ramallah with hedge fund manager Daniel Arbess, who is Jewish, and with the Palestinian billionaire Adnan Mjalli, who owns businesses in the US and elsewhere
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Heavy police presence blocks anti-Israel protest in Brooklyn from reaching Jewish neighborhood
-
Fast Forward Ben-Gvir says he met with 4 members of Congress, rebuffed protesters at US Capitol
-
Fast Forward Nike apologizes for marathon ad using the Holocaust phrase ‘Never Again’
-
Fast Forward Ohio Applebee’s defaced with antisemitic graffiti reading ‘Jews work here’
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Fast Forward Columbia staff receive texts asking if they’re Jewish, as government hunts antisemitic harassment on campus
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Heavy police presence blocks anti-Israel protest in Brooklyn from reaching Jewish neighborhood
-
Yiddish קאָקני־ייִדיש“: אַ פּאָדקאַסט, אַ לשון און אַ שטײגער לעבן‘Cockney Yiddish’: A podcast, a language and a way of life
צװײ לאָנדאָנער היסטאָריקערינס לעבן אױף דאָס ייִדישע „איסט ענד“ אין אונדזער פֿאַנטאַזיע
-
Special Report Trump and Jews: The first 100 days
-
Fast Forward Ben-Gvir says he met with 4 members of Congress, rebuffed protesters at US Capitol
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.