US President-elect Donald Trump held a phone call on Friday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the latter’s office said.
Abbas congratulated Trump on his election victory this week and wished him good luck as he prepares for his second term in the White House.
Abbas expressed his readiness “to work with President Trump to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on international legitimacy,” the PA readout said.
Trump, in turn, told Abbas that he “will work to stop the war” in Gaza between Israel and Hamas and that he looks forward to working with the PA leader and all concerned parties to “promote peace in the Middle East,” according to the Palestinian Authority.
Bishara Bahbah, who was the national chair of Arab Americans for Trump, told The Times of Israel he spoke with Abbas shortly after the call and the PA president characterized the conversation as “excellent.”
“They discussed the issue of peace and the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities,” Bahbah recalled Abbas having told him.
Bahbah insisted that Abbas is looking forward to working with Trump, despite a very rocky relationship during the US president-elect’s first term when the PA severed relations with the US after Washington recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017. The two have not spoken since.
“We’re in a different year now. We all graduate from positions that we have taken. There is a need for an immediate cessation to the hostilities and a return to the negotiating table for a lasting peace,” Bahbah said.
There was no statement from the Trump campaign on the call, which came a week after sources told The Times of Israel that Trump said to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the election that he wants Israel to wrap up the war in Gaza by the time he returns to office.
On Thursday, a senior official during Trump’s first term in office said the administration’s “deal of the century” peace plan for Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians will likely be back on the table, while acknowledging the appetite for a two-state solution has diminished following Hamas’s October 7 attack.
The plan — crafted in large part by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, and unveiled in 2020 — envisioned Israel being able to annex all of its settlements in the West Bank while granting the Palestinians a pathway to a semi-contiguous state on the remaining territory.
The plan was swiftly rejected by the Palestinian Authority, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the plan with reservations. His settler allies, who are now part of his coalition, rejected the proposal due to its inclusion of a potential Palestinian state.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.