Kushner presses Mideast peace plan
Trump advisers explain secret plan to regional allies
Details of the plan that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, and Jason Greenblatt, the special envoy for the Mideast, are shopping around have not been publicly disclosed except for broad outlines. It is likely to focus on what are called interim issues, such as security and the economy, and not on “aspirational” issues like Palestinian statehood.
It’s unclear what progress, if any, Kushner and Greenblatt made in seeking to resolve the broader dispute. The White House issued brief, near-identical statements after their stops in Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Israel. The State Department, normally the clearinghouse for diplomatic endeavors, was silent.
Since Trump already has recognized the disputed holy city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, siding with Israel on its status, the Palestinian Authority is unlikely to accept any plan put forward by the White House. Indeed, the Trump administration team was not scheduled to meet any Palestinians on the trip.
The Palestinian Authority has refused to meet U.S. envoys since Trump announced his decision on Jerusalem on Dec. 6, and later ordered the U.S. Embassy moved there from Tel Aviv. It’s unclear how a peace plan could succeed without Palestinian buy-in.
Kushner and Greenblatt arrived in Jerusalem on Friday, their last stop on the trip, and met for four hours with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and Israel’s ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer, attended the meeting.
The group discussed “the continued commitment of the Trump Administration and Israel to advance peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians” and the “means by which the humanitarian situation in Gaza can be alleviated,” the White House said in a statement Friday.
Kushner said in an interview published Sunday that the administration will soon present its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, with or without input from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
In an interview published in the Arabic language Al-Quds newspaper, Jared Kushner appealed directly to Palestinians and criticized Abbas, who has shunned the Trump team over its alleged pro-Israel bias, particularly on the fate of contested Jerusalem.
The interview came out after a weeklong trip around the region by Kushner and Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt. The team met with leaders of Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and the administration’s proposals for a peace deal.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Kushner and Greenblatt on Saturday of trying to topple the Abbas-led West Bank autonomy government and dismantle the U.N. aid agency for Palestinian refugees. On Sunday, Erekat doubled down on his criticism, telling Israel’s Channel 10 that the American negotiators are “not neutral” and predicting their peace plan would fail.
Trump has broken with previous presidents by offering support for the Israeli settler movement — the building of Jewish enclaves on land claimed by the Palestinians, a process that most of the world considers illegal. Trump also has refused to explicitly endorse the conventional proposal for a two-state solution that recognizes an independent Palestinian state next to Israel.
The Saudis and other Gulf rulers are close to Trump, but the Palestinian issue is politically complicated for them. Any plan seen as a betrayal of Palestinian aspirations is likely to trigger protests in those countries, especially by their large Palestinian populations.
That is keenly true for neighboring Jordan. King Abdullah II, who met with Kushner and Greenblatt on Tuesday in the capital, Amman, will visit Trump at the White House on Monday to weigh in personally with the president.
In its talks with regional leaders, the Trump administration most of all is attempting to scale back expectations of the “ultimate deal” that Trump last year said he hoped he could do to resolve the long-running crisis. Trump’s critics say that’s long overdue.
“The United States is not a credible mediator in this: They can’t even talk to one of the parties,” said Ilan Goldenberg, a Middle East expert at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, and an adviser to the Israel Policy Forum, a nonpartisan organization that works with former Israeli security officials who back a two-state solution.
“I’m not sure Trump can ever do it,” he added.