Palestinians Try to Sway Trump, Reaching Out to Tiffany Trump’s Relative

He met with the father-in-law of Donald J. Trump’s daughter Tiffany. He wrote a letter to Mr. Trump condemning the assassination attempt against him. And he quickly congratulated Mr. Trump on his presidential victory.

These overtures by Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, are part of a broad strategy to rehabilitate his once adversarial relationship with Mr. Trump as Palestinians reckon with an incoming president who expressed near unreserved backing for Israel in his first term.

Even Hamas, the armed group that led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that ignited the Gaza war and a bitter rival of the Palestinian Authority, has adopted a more cautious tone toward Mr. Trump. Some Palestinians in Gaza, who have endured a devastating Israeli bombardment, expressed hope that Mr. Trump could end the war, while others said they were skeptical.

As president, Mr. Trump advanced policies that infuriated the Palestinian Authority, which has limited autonomy over parts of the West Bank under Israeli occupation. He recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, cut off aid to the United Nations agency that supports Palestinian refugees, presented a peace plan that favored Israel and helped hammer out agreements between Israel and Arab states that sidestepped Palestinian ambitions to achieve independence.

Incensed, Mr. Abbas barred senior Palestinian officials from contact with people in the Trump administration.

But Mr. Trump has publicly called for the war in Gaza to stop. Mr. Abbas appears to be reversing course, hoping to influence the president-elect’s views on the conflict and cease-fire talks.