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"Waste of time": Palestinian leaders slam White House peace trip

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The Palestinian presidency slammed the upcoming trip to the region by the White House Middle East peace team — Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt — on Saturday, further illustrating the deep crisis between the Trump administration and the Palestinian Authority. 

Why it matters: For the last 17 months, the Trump administration has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

What's next: The drafting of the plan is mostly over and the White House is discussing when and how to launch it. Kushner and Greenblatt will travel to the region this week and discuss the plan with officials in Jerusalem, Cairo, Amman. Doha and Riyadh. They will not travel to Ramallah to meet Palestinian president Abbas due to the fact that the Palestinian leadership is boycotting the White House over Trump's Jerusalem embassy move and is not willing to accept peace talks moderated by the U.S.

What they're saying: President Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh issued a statement today stressing that Kushner and Greenblatt's upcoming trip is "a waste of time and is bound to fail," and warning against any U.S. attempts to bypass the Palestinian leadership. He also attacked the U.S. for what he said were attempts to "divide the Gaza strip from the West Bank under humanitarian pretexts."

  • Yesterday, as part of their preparations for the trip to the region, Kushner and Greenblatt met in New York with UN Secretary General António Guterres. U.S. ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley also attended the meeting. The White House said in a statement that Kushner and Greenblatt spoke with Guterres about the "U.S. efforts to promote peace in the Middle East and to meet humanitarian needs in Gaza.  They also discussed recent actions at the United Nations".

Go deeper

Jonathan Swan, Rebecca Falconer
9 mins ago - Health

CDC to cut guidance on quarantine period for coronavirus exposure

A health care worker oversees cars as people arrive to get tested for coronavirus at a testing site in Arlington, Virginia, on Tuesday. Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

The CDC will soon shorten its guidance for quarantine periods following exposure to COVID-19, AP reported Tuesday and Axios can confirm.

Why it matters: Quarantine helps prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which can occur before a person knows they're sick or if they're infected without feeling any symptoms. The current recommended period to stay home if exposed to the virus is 14 days. The CDC plans to amend this to 10 days or seven with a negative test, an official told Axios.

  • The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shawna Chen
1 hour ago - Health

CDC panel: COVID vaccines should go to health workers, long-term care residents first

Hospital staff work in the COVID-19 intensive care unit in Houston. Photo: Go Nakamura via Getty

Health-care workers and nursing home residents should be at the front of the line to get coronavirus vaccines in the United States once they’re cleared and available for public use, an independent CDC panel recommended in a 13-1 emergency vote on Tuesday, per CNBC.

Why it matters: Recent developments in COVID-19 vaccines have accelerated the timeline for distribution as vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna undergo the federal approval process. States are preparing to begin distributing as soon as two weeks from now.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Sara Fischer, author of Media Trends
2 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Obama: Broad slogans like "defund the police" lose people

Snapchat.

Former President Barack Obama told Peter Hamby on the Snapchat original political show "Good Luck America" that "snappy" slogans such as "defund the police" can alienate people, making the statements less effective than intended.

What he's saying: "You lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you're actually going to get the changes you want done," Obama told Hamby in an interview that will air Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. EST on Snapchat.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow