The Palestinian leadership was shaken by the horrific terror attack that killed more than 300 Egyptians in the northern Sinai town of Bir al-Abed on Nov. 24. Both Fatah and Hamas expressed their solidarity with the Egyptian government and people.

Visiting Ramallah these days, one comes away with the impression that the Palestinian leadership is extremely frustrated over the fact that fundamentalist terror is now topping the agendas of their Arab allies — Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The Palestinians feel that the anti-Iranian efforts these countries are focusing on with the US administration come at the expense of the necessary diplomatic battle for Palestinian statehood. They believe it is playing right into the hand of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy to sideline the Palestinian issue.

A senior PLO official, who is part of the inner circle of President Mahmoud Abbas, told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Abbas had a good meeting on Nov. 8 with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The young Saudi leader expressed optimism about US President Donald Trump’s initiative to achieve a two-state solution within a regional framework based on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. At the same time, the official sounded concerned about Trump’s pressure on the pragmatic Sunni leadership to accept an American plan that would be closer to the Israeli position than to the Palestinian position. Abbas, according to the official, has made it clear to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Prince Mohammed and Jordanian King Abdullah II that he will not go along with an American strategy and plan at all costs.

The official said, “Our Arab partners want our support in order to solidify their regional alliance against Iran. Yet we have clear conditions for the acceptance of the American plan: We will not allow again a negotiation process for the sake of the process itself or for the sake of a photo opportunity. Our public opinion is rightly restless and skeptical.”