RAMALLAH (Dispatches) – Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has announced boycotting the U.S. and its officials, however, he has continued holding secret meetings with U.S. officials in Ramallah, The Times of Israel has revealed.
Abbas has also ordered all Palestinian officials not to meet with the Americans following the closure of the U.S. Consulate in occupied Al-Quds in 2018.
A PA official told The Times of Israel that meetings with U.S. officials started shortly after President Joe Biden’s administration announced that it would reopen the U.S. Consulate in Al-Quds.
The PA severed ties with the Trump administration, which closed the consulate, considering the closure a downgrading of relations with Palestinians.
During the Zionist regime’s offensive on Gaza, the U.S. became frustrated due to its inability to easily engage with the Palestinians. Therefore, according to The Times of Israel, days after the offensive, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the region and notified Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas about Biden’s move.
In addition, The Times of Israel reported that Blinken dispatched former head of the mission Michael Ratney to Al-Quds to serve as charge d’affaires of the embassy until a full-time ambassador arrives.
An informed official reported that Ratney has longstanding ties with senior members of the PA and leveraged those relations to urge Abbas to end his boycott of the U.S. Embassy, an official familiar with the matter disclosed.
U.S. and Palestinian officials said that Abbas had privately met in Ramallah with Ratney and Palestinian Affairs Unit Chief George Noll several times since May to discuss the advancement of U.S.-Palestinian bilateral ties.