Trump Administration Plans to Reveal Middle East Peace Plan Next Month

Jared Kushner, son-in-law and Senior Advisor to President Donald J. Trump

The Associated Press, quoted in Haaretz, ” The Trump administration is aiming to roll out its much-hyped but long-delayed Middle East peace plan next month amid signs it may further alienate the Palestinians by slashing millions of dollars in funding for humanitarian and development projects in the West Bank and Gaza. Five U.S. officials and a congressional aide say the administration intends to release the peace plan in mid- to late-June, shortly after the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, although they cautioned that the timing could slip depending on developments in the region. They say the plan’s main authors — President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Trump’s special envoy for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt — have already begun quietly briefing select allies and partners on elements of the proposal.”

“Yet any Palestinian willingness to even consider the plan would require conditions to improve and anger to subside considerably in the coming weeks, an unlikely scenario as the Palestinians say evidence of one-sided Trump giveaways to Israel continues to pile up. U.S. allies in Europe and the Persian Gulf also have felt compelled to criticize the administration for its approach. Ostensibly, Trump would need buy-in from those same countries to build enough momentum for any peace plan to succeed.” More…)

Donald trump signs the document – the Iran nuclear deal is dead

Financial Times editorial, 15 May, “…Mr Trump has repeatedly promised that his Middle East envoy, Mr Kushner, is going to unfurl a new peace plan. But at every opportunity the president appears to encourage Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take maximalist positions that militate against peace. This looks less like the ‘ultimate deal’ that Mr Trump promised and more like a fresh disaster in the making. Instead of playing fireman, America is fanning the flames.”

Edward Luce,in the Financial Times, 16 May, writes”…The world awaits Mr Trump’s two-state plan with unbated breath. It is being drawn up by Mr Kushner. You could not make it up….”