Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser, is expected to head to the Middle East later this month for an official visit to discuss a US proposal for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Kushner, 38, will be joined by US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, US envoy on Iran Brian Hook and other administration officials who have worked on the economic part of the plan, dubbed the “deal of the century”.
"[Kushner and Greenblatt] will not brief the diplomats on the 'political component' of the peace plan…Instead, they will gauge the level of support for the economic part of the plan…"https://t.co/au5nS5t04G
— Ben White (@benabyad) February 8, 2019
The trip – which includes stops in Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, is aimed at building support for the initiative which Kushner has been tasked with leading.
The plan revolves around a proposal that foresees major infrastructure and industrial work, particularly in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Kushner to sell 'Deal of the Century' in Gulf https://t.co/mKhHVeaFXp
— Joe Catron ????? (@jncatron) February 8, 2019
For the plan to succeed or even pass the starting gate, it will need at least initial buy-in from both Israel and the Palestinians as well as from the Gulf Arab states, which officials say will be asked to substantially bankroll the economic portion.
Officials said they believed that the Arab diplomats Kushner will meet will want to know elements of the political component before backing the economic plan.
This will be Kushner’s first visit to the region since the administration announced it will delay the presentation of the peace plan until the end of the Israeli electionhttps://t.co/SKK1qOj0Ci
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) February 8, 2019
The release of the Trump peace plan has been put on hold.
The current thinking among White House officials is that the peace plan will be unveiled sometime after Israel holds elections on April 9 that will decide the fate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
(AJE, PC, Social Media)
