Global Geopolitical Series: Saudi Arabia allegedly pursues PA to accept ‘deal of the century’ with $10 billion offer

The Trump administration in the United States is close to revealing its much-awaited ‘deal of the century’ plan that aims to end the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians by fostering a peace agreement. President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is also the President’s special envoy to the cause, has said that the peace plan would be revealed after the end of Ramadan, which ends early June.

However, since President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the legitimate capital of Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders, responsible for negotiations on behalf of Palestinians, refused to sit with the United States for negotiation and refused to accept the U.S. as an impartial mediator in the talks.

The PA leaders’ hard stance on the issue has been the major hindrance to progress in the talks. In response to that, the United States has canceled millions of dollars’ worth of aids to PA, but so far that hasn’t yielded much of a result other than worsening economic conditions for the Palestinians.

According to the latest, the United States’ close ally Saudi Arabia, which has immense influence in the Middle East reportedly stepped up its efforts in bringing back the PA leaders back to the negotiating table. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Muhammad bin Salman held a meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and according to Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar newspaper reportedly offered a $10 billion over a period of 10 years, should he accept the peace plan, in which Palestinian state would have their capital in Abu-dis instead of Jerusalem.