(Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff/JNS) Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas is demanding that U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt be replaced as peace mediator because of his bias in favor of Israel, a senior P.A. official and close associate of Abbas told Israel Hayom.

The official said Abbas was demanding Greenblatt’s ouster before he would agree to resume the peace process, aimed at resolving the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Greenblatt said, as of print time, the Palestinian leadership was “refusing to cooperate,” and called the Palestinian recalcitrance “disappointing.”

An Abbas associate told Israel Hayom that Abbas has recently dispatched a P.A. delegation to Washington, which echoed the demand to replace Greenblatt.