Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday expressed appreciation for the successful efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, calling it a crucial step in defusing global crises that would positively impact the region’s security and stability.
In a letter, Abbas also praised Trump’s stance in calling for an immediate end to the Israel-Hamas war, describing it as another significant step in the U.S. president’s efforts to achieve world peace. He added that such a position “gives hope to the peoples of the region that peace can be achieved and that justice can prevail, if the will and leadership you represent are present.”
Abbas claimed a readiness to work closely with Trump and relevant Arab and international parties to negotiate a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement within a clear and binding timeframe that achieves security and stability for all.
“With you, we can achieve what seemed impossible: a recognized, free, sovereign, and secure Palestine; a recognized and secure Israel; and a region that enjoys peace, prosperity, and integration,” wrote Abbas.
“We are filled with hope and confidence in your ability to create a new history for our region, restoring the peace that has been lost for generations,” the letter continued.
Earlier this month, the Palestinian Media Watch NGO noted that the official P.A. daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida had published an interview with Abbas from August in which he declared that Hamas had achieved “important goals” with its Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of southern Israel.
According to Abbas, the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust “shook the foundations of the Israeli entity” and “exposed the claims” that the IDF is “invincible.”
The publication of Abbas’s comments came three months after Mahmoud al-Habbash, Abbas’s adviser on religious and Islamic affairs, praised Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities as “legitimate resistance,” PMW said.
“[Abbas] is one of the world’s leading Holocaust deniers, a vile antisemite, and a sworn enemy of the State of Israel,” Israeli Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli told JNS in April.
Members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a “military arm” of Abbas’s Fatah movement, participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, and Ramallah has financially rewarded Oct. 7 terrorists through its “pay-for-slay” fund.
“It’s time for the hypocrite Abu Mazen [Abbas] to stop paying salaries to murderers of Jews and to end the incitement in his education system. The Palestinian Authority, which encourages terrorism, is part of the problem and cannot be the solution for Gaza the day after,” Israeli Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen told JNS in April.
