Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he wants to "turn over a new leaf" with Trump

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas wants to "turn over a new leaf" with Donald Trump, the U.S. president-elect, a Palestinian government source told Israeli news outlet N12.

The source added that Abbas "has decided to turn over a new leaf" with the Republican "with the help of Saudi Arabia, and not to reignite the conflict over Jerusalem and Trump's peace plan in his previous term."

Tensions between Abbas and Trump

The PA chairman addressed the tensions that arose during the Trump administration, when the then U.S. president recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the U.S. embassy to that city, as well as to the peace plan proposed by the then US administration.

The proposal to reach a peace agreement presented by the Trump administration on that occasion consisted of the creation of a Palestinian State that would include 70% of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, areas of the Negev desert  in southern Israel which are connected to the Palestinian coastal enclave, and a sector of East Jerusalem as its capital.

According to the plan, the Palestinians would receive $50 billion and would have to commit to abandon terrorism. However, the plan was rejected by the Palestinian Authority leadership.

Abbas, the moderate?

The president of the Palestinian Authority is considered a moderate by a large part of the international community. However, his government grants payments to the families of terrorists killed by Israel or imprisoned in the Jewish state. In addition, last year he caused great outrage after justifying the Holocaust, by claiming that 6,000,000 Jews were killed for "their social function, which had to do with usury and money."