Greenblatt to visit Israel for more peace meetings

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump’s special representative for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, returns to Israel this weekend for continued talks on the administration’s upcoming peace plan.

No revelations are expected from the meetings, but Greenblatt and his team, led by Jared Kushner, the president’s sonin-law, say they are essentially finished with their plan for a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Trump has said he wants the plan published by the end of the year or shortly thereafter.

“Looking forward to being back in Israel this week as part of our commitment to productive engagement,” Greenblatt wrote on Twitter.

While his formal role at the White House has been to spearhead the peace effort day to day, Greenblatt was also sent by the president earlier this week to represent the administration in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after a mass slaughter of Jews in a synagogue there last weekend.

Greenblatt, who is Orthodox, wrote an op-ed on his experience. “There is a culture of hate that is multiplying,” he warned.

The envoy has not met with Palestinian Authority officials since Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last December, moving the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv in May. He is not expected to meet with them this week.