International

U.S. President Donald Trump invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to visit the White House, the Trump administration confirmed to Haaretz on Thursday, as the political fallout from the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital cast a shadow over a planned visit to the region by Vice President Mike Pence.
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     The White House confirmed reports that Trump invited Abbas to visit him in Washington in a few weeks' time, when the Palestinian president is slated to be in the city for a medical procedure.
     The invitation was extended in a phone call on Tuesday when Trump called the Palestinian leader to inform him of his decision on Jerusalem. No date has been set yet for the meeting, the White House said, adding that Trump expressed his wish to discuss his administration's peace plan with Abbas.Meanwhile, a senior Palestinian official in Abbas’s ruling Fatah party said on Thursday that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, due to visit the region later this month, “is unwelcome in Palestine.”
     “In the name of Fatah I say that we will not welcome Trump’s deputy in the Palestinian Territories. He asked to meet (Abbas) on the 19th of this month in Bethlehem, such a meeting will not take place,” Jibril Rajoub said.