Global Geopolitical Series: Cornered PA leaders to visit Moscow to counter U.S. pressure

The top leaders of Palestinian Authority (PA) including President Mahmoud Abbas will be visiting Russia is the second week of July and will be meeting President Putin to discuss Middle East peace prospect involving Israel and Jerusalem. The meeting is coming at a time when both economic and diplomatic pressures on the Palestinian Authority has increased significantly.

President Trump has cut U.S. aid to Palestinian Authority almost by half. Though the European Union has stepped in with emergency funding to the tune of €54 million, it is clearly not sufficient to cover the U.S. contribution. In addition to that, Arab funding has also been reduced by American allies like Saudi Arabia. At the same time, diplomatic pressure from Arab alliance of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, and Jordon have gone up to force the PA in accepting President Trump’s deal of the century.

Recently, President Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner, who is the president’s special envoy and key architect of the peace proposal said that the peace process would move ahead with or without the PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who has refused to meet with Mr. Kushner and Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt over President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

President Abbas is hoping to find support in Moscow when he meets with President Putin, who is also set to meet President Trump by the mid of the next month. According to Hamas, its leaders also visited Moscow recently and made a unilateral announcement that President Putin opposes Trump’s deal of the century.