Kushner talks ‘deal of the century’ with Israel’s Netanyahu

Trump is after anything big that he can slap his name on to put him in a position that the history books will remember as ‘great’. For this reason, his son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner and special envoy Jason Greenblatt have been on a tour of the Middle East advocating this ‘deal of the century’, where they believe that they are gonna hammer out a peace deal, something that has eluded world leaders for decades.

But, the kicker in the whole thing is that this process seems to seriously think that it can come to fruition by ignoring major parties, such as the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Kushner has this whole plan to redraw the map and establish this great peace plan, and he’s gonna do it with the Saudis the Egyptians, and the Israelis, and without the Palestinians, the Syrians, or the Lebanese. Somehow, that makes sense, in some version of reality, somewhere.

The Palestine Chronicle reports:

Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, said Washington would likely announce its Middle East peace plan even if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, angered by US policy so far, chose to remain on the sidelines.

In an interview that appeared in Arabic on Sunday in the Palestinian newspaper Al Quds, Kushner – who is meeting leaders in the region, but not Abbas – questioned his ability to make a deal and said the US proposal would be published soon.

In a surprising interview with AlQuds newspaper, #Kushner promises the #Palestinian people a fair deal but gives them no evidence of fairness or hope other than good intentions. The Palestinians have repeatedly seen this movie before over the past 70 years https://t.co/52AX3SKoxv

— Khalil Jahshan (@KhalilEJahshan) June 24, 2018

Abbas has refused to see Trump’s team following his decision in December to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the US Embassy there. The Palestinians want their own future state with a capital in East Jerusalem.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says Americans have to understand ‘there’s no point looking for alternatives’https://t.co/X50nghdVfF

— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) June 23, 2018

According to an English-language transcript released in Washington, Kushner said:

“If President Abbas is willing to come back to the table, we are ready to engage; if he is not, we will likely air the plan publicly. However, I do question how much President Abbas has the ability to, or is willing to, lean into finishing a deal. He has his talking points which have not changed in the last 25 years.”

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, said that he is “ready to work” with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as he visits the region as part of an effort to broker a peace deal, a newspaper reported on Sunday. https://t.co/rcScDY7mqB

— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 24, 2018

Commenting on the interview, Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Abbas, said:

“The road to peace is clear – a commitment to the two-state solution, a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital. This is the road to any negotiations or any meetings.”

President Abbas said”we want to live in peace alongside the State of Israel.”
I do not see boundaries to see two states. Israel does not abide by the borders and does not even allow the Palestinians to live in peace on the 1967 borders, and settlement incursions are increasing

— Shirene Kamal Yaseen (@ShireneYaseen) April 21, 2018

Kushner, who along with US envoy Jason Greenblatt, visited Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt before talks on Friday and Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Arab leaders conveyed they wanted to see a Palestinian state.

#Arab Pressure on Abbas to Accept #Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ (VIDEO) https://t.co/o8kTGz50su via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/dnoqLgUSZ9

— Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) June 23, 2018

The Trump administration has said it would support a two-state solution if both sides agree to it, but in the interview, Kushner did not commit to Palestinian statehood, long the foundation of US policy in the region.

The plan is expected to propose detailed solutions to core issues in dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians, such as borders, the future of Israeli settlements, the fate of Palestinian refugees and security.

The #Trump #administration has said it would #support a two-state solution if both sides agree to it, but in the interview Kushner did not commit to a two-state solution. https://t.co/1xBgU2BxyA

— Spectrum News (@ProNewsViews) June 24, 2018

Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 war. Israeli forces and settlers pulled out of the Gaza Strip, now controlled by Hamas, in 2005.

Most experts question whether Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and Greenblatt – both of whom have no diplomatic background – can achieve any deal in one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.

Kushner speaks directly to Palestinians: ‘Not everyone will agree that it’s the right package, but reaching for peace takes courage’https://t.co/mAKiyChsHr

— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) June 24, 2018

In the interview, which was headlined, “I am ready to work with President Abbas if he wishes” and published in Arabic, Kushner gave a direct message to the Palestinian people:

“You deserve to have a bright future. Now is a time where both the Israelis and Palestinians must bolster and re-focus their leadership, to encourage them to be open towards a solution and to not be afraid of trying.”

Abbas isn’t negotiating any so-called ‘peace’ arrangement with the Trump administration, as it’s already demonstrated that it is biased in Israel’s favour and doesn’t seem to care at all about the interests of the Palestinians. Trump has already declared that he doesn’ think the Palestinians even want peace at all, he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, blamed the mass killing of peaceful Palestinian protesters, nurses, journalists, etc, on Hamas and totally ignored the unjustified use of lethal violence by the Israelis, or else whitewashed it, withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council over a supposed ‘bias’ against Israel, and has threatened other nations for not taking sides with America’s position on these matters.

How on this green Earth does the Trump administration think that it can nail down a peace deal when it is so obviously biased against one the key parties with whom peace is being sought? While it may in fact be an audacious plan, it is even more ludicrous. You can’t have a peace deal when only one side is party to the negotiation, in normal terms, that’s called brokering a surrender. It’s likely, however, that this won’t even get that far, and is simply a little bit more back slapping for Netanyahu. Kushner’s proposal fails to address the Palestinian perspective on refugees, the statehood, and Jerusalem, but rather, it considers Jerusalem as wholly belonging to the Jewish state. Furthermore, for argument’s sake, even if a deal were to get worked out here, one must remember that it’s being negotiated by the US with Israel, neither of which are known for standing by their agreements or honoring their word.