Trump Praises Abbas, Considers him Willing to Make Peace

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting at the presidential headquarters in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on May 23, 2017. (Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting at the presidential headquarters in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on May 23, 2017. (Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
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Trump Praises Abbas, Considers him Willing to Make Peace

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting at the presidential headquarters in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on May 23, 2017. (Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting at the presidential headquarters in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on May 23, 2017. (Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)

After lashing out at Benjamin Netanyahu and accusing him of disloyalty, ex-US President Donald Trump spoke about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in newly released interview excerpts Saturday, accusing the former Israeli leader of obstructing peace.

In the latest comments broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12, Trump said he believed Netanyahu “did not want to make peace. Never did.”

The former US President said that when Netanyahu stated at the Bar-Ilan University his support for a two-state solution, he was not serious.

“Bibi did not want to make a deal,” Trump said, using Netanyahu’s nickname. “Even most recently, when we came up with the maps” as part of his administration’s peace plan, Netanyahu’s reaction was “‘Oh this is good, good,’ everything was always great, but he was never… he did not want to make a deal.”

“Now I don’t know if Netanyahu didn’t want to make it for political reasons, or for other reasons. I wish he would have said he didn’t want to make a deal, instead of…. Because a lot of people devoted a lot of work. But I don’t think Bibi would have ever made a deal. That’s my opinion. I think the general [Defense Minister Benny Gantz] wanted to make a deal.”

Here, before starting to praise Gantz, Trump surprised his Israeli interviewers by praising Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

“He wanted to make a deal more than Netanyahu. And I will be honest, I had a great meeting with him, Abbas, right. I had a great meeting with him. And we spent a lot of time together, talking about many things. And it was almost like a father. I mean, he was so nice, couldn’t have been nicer.”

Trump recalled he then told Netanyahu that “I had a very good meeting with Abbas. We can definitely do a deal.”

And when asked about the Israeli leader’s response, he said, “‘Well, let’s think about it. Let’s not move too fast, you know.’ After he started talking, I said, wait a minute, you don’t want to make a deal. And he said, ‘Well, uh, uh, uh.’ And the fact is I don’t think Bibi ever wanted to make a deal.”

The former US President said he had thought the Palestinians were impossible, and the Israelis would do anything to make peace and a deal, but later found that not to be true.

Later, Trump offered his favorable opinion on Gantz, saying he wanted to make a deal.

“I really like him a lot. I thought he was great. He came to the White House. He was someone that, in my opinion, it would have been much easier to make a deal with the Palestinians… The Palestinians hate Netanyahu. They hate him with a passion. They did not hate Gantz. They didn’t hate him.”



Sudan's RSF and Allies Formalize Vision for Parallel Government

A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, an area torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, on April 25, 2023. (AP)
A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, an area torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, on April 25, 2023. (AP)
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Sudan's RSF and Allies Formalize Vision for Parallel Government

A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, an area torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, on April 25, 2023. (AP)
A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, an area torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, on April 25, 2023. (AP)

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied groups signed a transitional constitution on Tuesday that takes them a step closer to setting up a parallel government during a two-year-old war with the army that threatens to split the country.

The paramilitary RSF has recently been on the back foot in the conflict, which has caused mass displacement, extreme hunger, bouts of ethnically-charged killings and sexual violence.

As fighting rages, the RSF on Tuesday launched its latest long-range drone attack on power infrastructure, targeting Sudan's largest power generation station at the Merowe Dam, according to an army statement and knocking out power in swathes of northern Sudan.

The army claimed gains in the Sharg el-Nil area as it sought to surround the RSF in the capital, Khartoum.

The RSF-led constitution is designed to supplant a constitution signed after the army and RSF ousted long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir during an uprising in 2019.

In 2021 the two military factions staged a coup, derailing a transition towards civilian rule, but in April 2023 plans for a new transition triggered warfare between them.

The RSF and its allies had in late February agreed in principle to form a government for a "New Sudan" as they sought to pull legitimacy from the existing army-led government and facilitate advanced arms imports.

The new constitution formally establishes a government and maps out what it describes as a federal, secular state, split into eight regions.

It provides for a bill of basic rights, giving regions the right to self-determination should certain conditions, chief among them separation of religion and the state, not be met.

It also calls for a single national army, with the signatories as the "nucleus". Elections are mentioned as an outcome of the transitional period, without any fixed timetable.

Signatories include the powerful and secular-minded SPLM-N, which controls vast areas in Sudan's South Kordofan, and other smaller groups.

The RSF and its allies have said the government will be formed in the coming weeks but it is unclear who will be in it or where it will operate from.