On Dec. 9, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent a letter to US President-elect Donald Trump stating that the relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem would undermine the principle of two states for two people, as well as future prospects of an Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

“The letter was very cautiously phrased, in diplomatic language, and was well thought out,” a Palestinian source in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority (PA), told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. According to the source, Abbas followed the suggestion of the future Palestinian ambassador to Washington, Husam Zumlut, and explained to Trump that moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would complicate matters for the Trump administration that wishes to make its mark by making peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

“There were no threats and no warnings of catastrophes, not even of retaliatory measures by the PA or by Arab states,” the source said, “but rather a sincere desire to talk as leader to leader.”

The mildly phrased letter sharply contradicts the harsh rhetoric on the issue by senior PA officials. Saeb Erekat, the secretary-general of the PLO’s Executive Council who headed the Palestinian side in peace talks with Israel, warned that moving the embassy to Jerusalem would sound the death knell for the peace process with Israel, and that the PA would restrict its security coordination with Israel. Erekat even warned that the PA would no longer recognize Israel and would ask Arab states to expel US ambassadors from their capitals.