Mahmoud Abbas - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Mahmoud Abbas Index / People Transcripts Dennis Ross ...with Olmert. Then I was in the one with Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] when we went to see th... ...Then I was in the one with Abu Mazen [ Mahmoud Abbas ] when we went to see the Palestinians... ...But when he was in the meeting with Abu Mazen , he conveyed, again, a genuine desir... ...me, and I started off by saying, “If Abu Mazen were here and you asked him ‘How muc... ...us because when Biden had gone to see Abu Mazen , riding over there he said, “Wha... ...the threshold.' And that will impress Abu Mazen . Then ask him, ‘Just the two of u... ...thing is—as Biden told me afterwards— Abu Mazen was honest enough with him to say, “... ...to talk to the Israelis, and by August Abu Mazen agreed. I think it was a function of... ...is extended. When Bibi comes here with Abu Mazen —Bibi can be very effective. He can b... ...did publicly, and even privately, with Abu Mazen was actually quite good. But th... ...Bank from a security standpoint.” And Abu Mazen said, “For how long?” And Bibi goes... ...And Bibi goes, “Forty years.” And Abu Mazen says, “Well then, you can keep it.... ...then, you can keep it.” [Laughter] Abu Mazen tells Hillary and George Mitchell he'... ...you're in a different place. And what Abu Mazen couldn't accept was something tha... ...I think is a mistake because Abu Mazen just pocketed it, but we changed ou... ...Here, we were doing this. And Abu Mazen just blew us off. And I said, “Yo... ...both sides. You put refugees in, and Abu Mazen will say no. You put in Jerusalem, an... ...'67 and mutually agreed swaps in it. Abu Mazen says no and gets the Russians to oppos... ...and gets the Russians to oppose it. And Abu Mazen 's sole objection is the reference t... ...that. And Hussein came back and said, “ Abu Mazen feels that if you have to tel... ...needed a back channel. He would press Abu Mazen at this time. For a couple of months... ...channel. Then finally, at one point, Abu Mazen comes up with a completely fictitiou... ...calls me up and he said, “This is what Abu Mazen said.” And he said, “Is there a bac... ...the only way to do this is the next— Abu Mazen is coming, one on one. You need to tal... ...coming, one on one. You need to talk to Abu Mazen and see: Does he want this channel o... ...channels is leading nowhere.” So when Abu Mazen comes, in the one-on-one the presiden... ...one-on-one the president raises it. And Abu Mazen suddenly disowns Hussein Agha. He say... ...Hussein and I said, “Look, this is what Abu Mazen said.” Then he tells me that Abu Maze... ...Abu Mazen said.” Then he tells me that Abu Mazen said, “Look, if I told the president... ...but—this wasn't your doing. This was Abu Mazen .” Full stop, I'm out of it again. Thi... ...wasn't the last time the president saw Abu Mazen —but it would've been early 2010... ...representing?” He says to me, “You know Abu Mazen wants to create this distance. But I'... ...was an effort triggered initially by Abu Mazen because he wanted to go aroun... ...was known as the Beilin- Abu Mazen agreement that was negotiated befor... ...now had to go and present this to Abu Mazen . The ground rule for this—it didn'... ...was pressing me to have Hussein go to Abu Mazen . And Hussein didn't want to do it... ...you is, if he owns it, he goes to Abu Mazen . And I can tell you what he'll say... ...straight. Someone who's representing Abu Mazen , he's negotiating something that isn'... ...because—can I tell you for sure that Abu Mazen and Bibi would've signed up to it? The... ...Bibi had much less deniability than Abu Mazen ; because Moho was his negotiator... ...was his negotiator. Hussein was not Abu Mazen 's negotiator. And this was an issu... ...Obama went to the region, he told Abu Mazen the only game in town was our track... ...town was our track.” But he told both Abu Mazen and Bibi he wanted it done in si... Show more... Mara Rudman ...in the West Bank. At one point, one of President Abbas 's people had said to me, like, “We'r... ...was a meeting—I believe it was with President Abbas —and she was trying to get to how yo... ...a day of milk to Gaza. She asked President Abbas this question, and he looked at he... Jim Steinberg ...legitimate the moderate leadership of Abu Mazen and the like, and then seeing wha... Jake Sullivan ...nor a Palestinian leadership under President Abbas were in a position politically wit... Akram Dweikat ...Still I am, I guess. You met with [Mahmoud] Abbas . Was it the same group that had bee... John Kerry ...he thought we could do something, and [Mahmoud] Abbas indicated his willingness to d... Hillary Clinton ...if not more importantly, to try to make [Mahmoud] Abbas look like an untrustworthy, no... Related Topics go to the Transition Transition go to the Elections and Campaigns Elections and Campaigns go to the Arts and Humanities Arts and Humanities go to the Immigration Immigration go to the Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa