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Palestinian leader Abbas, President Trump to hold first phone call

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will speak by telephone with President Donald Trump in the first contact between the two leaders since Trump took office.

Trump’s planned phone call to Abbas was revealed in a White House notice Friday.

Abbas has spent many hours on the phone and in meetings with U.S. presidents and secretaries of state over the past decade but he has tried unsuccessfully to reach out to Trump.

Abbas’ office did not comment ahead of the call.

Trump is unpopular among Palestinians because he has broken from his predecessor and adopted friendlier positions toward the Israeli government, including a vague stance on Palestinian statehood and a more lenient approach to settlements in territory claimed by the Palestinians.

Abbas is alarmed by the possibility of being sidelined.

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