1 \ Israeli PM Netanyahu has rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to organize a summit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow because he didn't want to undercut President Trump's forthcoming Middle East peace plan, Israeli officials told me
2 \ Netanyahu and Abbas haven't met since September 2010. This is the second time Netanyahu has rejected such a proposal from Putin, after another offer in September 2016
3 \ Putin's new attempt to inject himself into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is a challenge to the Trump administration, which has been working on a peace plan for the last 18 months
4 \ On Monday Netanyahu met with Russian FM Lavrov, who arrived in Israel for talks on Syria. Russian diplomats said Lavrov also discussed with Netanyahu the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process & briefed Netanyahu on the recent meeting Putin had with Abbas in Moscow
5 \ Lavrov told Netanyahu that Putin had proposed a Moscow summit to Abbas, and that Abbas said he is willing to attend such a meeting, the Russian diplomats told me
6 \ Lavrov asked Netanyahu if he would be willing to attend such a meeting. Israeli officials said Netanyahu said he is not against such a meeting in principle, but doesn’t want to organize such a meeting in Moscow before the Trump administration launches its peace plan. END
