US President Donald Trump’s threats to withdraw from the Iran agreement and his defining of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as persona non grata for refusing US-sponsored peace talks with Israel sounded alarm bells in European Union headquarters.

A senior European Union official spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity about the talks between European representatives and US envoy Jason Greenblatt on the sidelines of the Jan. 31 meeting in Brussels of the international donor group for Palestine. The emergency meeting was convened by EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and by Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Soreide, following threats by the US administration to cut in half its funding to UNRWA, the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees.

According to the European official, compared with the US threats, Greenblatt sounded more moderate. Discussing the Jerusalem issue and Trump’s Middle East peace plan, Greenblatt explicitly said that the borders of Jerusalem will have to be negotiated by the two sides and that Israel will have to pay a price in the upcoming negotiations. He claimed Washington is still working on the parameters of a peace plan, its content and its timing. Greenblatt also said that the decision to cut US aid to UNRWA by $65 million will be revisited. He claimed that Washington has an interest to alleviate the economic hardship in the Gaza Strip to prevent a violent cycle and to reignite Israeli-Palestinian economic cooperation between Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.

The EU official said that Hamdallah, who represented his government at the conference, was not at all impressed by Greenblatt’s words. He then noted that Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi, who represented Israel, was constructive on the economic front. Most specifically, Hanegbi expressed a willingness to facilitate access to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank for international projects.