Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: Screenshot.

JNS.org – The Palestinian Authority (PA) is “pessimistic” about the ability of the US to reignite the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process and plans to resume unilateral initiatives in the international arena, senior Palestinian officials said on Wednesday.

Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s international negotiations representative, is expected to visit Israel and the West Bank in the coming weeks to promote the resumption of peace talks, which the latest round of collapsed in 2014.

Arab media outlets on Wednesday quoted several Palestinian officials, including chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat, as saying the current US efforts were “redundant” because the Palestinians “have lost confidence in the Americans as objective mediators.”

Moreover, the Palestinians claim both American and Israeli officials have essentially agreed that a peace process based on a two-state solution “no longer exists.”

A senior official in Abbas’ office said the PA leader was “deeply disappointed” with Washington’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding that the overall sentiment in Ramallah was that Trump’s Middle East envoys favored Israel over the Palestinians.

The PA plans to resume its appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where it would allege that senior Israeli leaders and military officers have committed war crimes, the Palestinian official said, adding that the PA will also unilaterally pursue admission into more international organizations — a process Abbas had suspended when Trump was elected US president.

Pledging that the PA will wage a “diplomatic intifada” against Israel, the official said the Palestinians are determined to “isolate Israel.”