Jared Kushner, advisor and son-in-law of President Donald Trump, and Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, met on Friday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and most likely presented him with the American peace plan, dubbed by the president to be the “Deal of the Century.” The two senior officials are not expected to meet with representatives of the Palestinian Authority.
Trump’s negotiating team will spend the weekend in Israel after hopping between Arab capitals in the region. Kushner met Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday, with Saudi Crown Prince Ben Salman on Wednesday, and with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday. He presented all three Arab rulers with “The Ultimate Deal for Peace in the Middle East,” which the Trump team has been laboring on since shortly after the inauguration.
On Friday morning, Ma’ariv reported concerns in Israel that the peace plan would include “gifts” to the PA, to tempt them to rejoin the peace process. The American plan is expected to include pressing Israel to relinquish its sovereignty over four eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods, as well as the establishment of a US consulate in eastern Jerusalem. The consulate will provide services to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria Arabs.
The Palestinian Authority has been boycotting the Trump administration since December 2017, when the president announced his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his plan to relocate the embassy, which is why Kushner and Greenblatt will likely skip Ramallah this time.
It’s probably highly recommended that the US reestablish its own relations with the PA before it proceed to broker a peace deal involving them…
In any event, it is highly likely that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will reject the US plan, which could increase US pressure on Netanyahu to give up even more.