jared kushner’s attempt to broker peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders apparently fell flat. The New York Daily News reported the effort of the son-in-law and senior adviser of U.S. President Donald Trump to serve as peacemaker did not work as planned.
The talk between Kushner and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Saturday was tense. The 82-year-old Abbas was allegedly angry at Kushner for presenting to him the demands of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The demands, according to the Jerusalem Post, included an immediate stop of payments to terrorists and their families.
Not fair arbiters
The lack of experience of the 36-year-old real estate businessman in international diplomacy was apparent since Kushner sounded more like advisers of Netanyahu than fair arbiters, a Palestinian official told Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper. The Palestinian officials, after hearing Kushner present the issues raised by the Israeli PM, asked Trump’s senior adviser to present clear stances on the core issues of the conflict.
Besides being Trump’s son-in-law, it seems the choice of Kushner as the peace mediator is his family had kept a long relationship with Netanyahu. With Kushner when he met Netanyahu on Wednesday in Jerusalem were American Ambassador David Friedman and envoy Jason Greenblatt.
When the PM greeted the three on June 21, he said it was an opportunity to pursue their common goals of security, prosperity, and peace.
Read this and try to grasp the ignorance and hubris of Jared Kushner and his father-in-law.
— Kim Masters (@kimmasters) June 24, 2017
https://t.co/PgdzCifDOD
@realDonaldTrump what the hell is this about? Stop sending a boy to do an educated man/woman's job! @jaredkushner https://t.co/mYnx3nQFkM
— Patricia Avlas (@818GilmoreGirl) June 25, 2017
Trump’s team upset with Abbas
If the Palestinian leader was disappointed with Kushner, the Trump team, in turn, was upset with Abbas who allegedly refused to denounce a stabbing attack in Jerusalem recently that killed Sgt.
Maj. Hadas Malka. The Hill cited a report from the Jerusalem Post, based on a translation from an article in al-Hayat, an Arabic newspaper based in London. Abbas allegedly also refused to meet Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
The report said Kushner will submit a report of what transpired after his meetings with Netanyahu and Abbas.
Trump will decide if negotiations would still stand a chance, or it would be better for the U.S. to pull out of the peace talks. The first major try at brokering peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine was pushed because of Trump’s belief he could achieve as president.
When Trump met Abbas in May, he claimed a peace agreement could be easier than expected. He was optimistic Kushner could find a solution. “It’s something that, I think, is, frankly, maybe not as difficult as people have thought over the years,” the president said.
