Peace plan expected after Israeli election

Jared Kushner (left)

has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan for close to two years but has yet to release any details, and the release of his plan has been repeatedly delayed.

The Palestinians have pre-emptively rejected the plan, accusing Trump of being unfairly biased in favour of Israel. They believe the plan will fall far short of their long-standing goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. “There will be no peace in the Middle East without a peaceful solution that leads to a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as a capital,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Palestinians skipped Thursday’s conference in protest. The reality has changed,” Netanyahu said.

He wouldn’t comment on any concessions Israel would have to make under any USbacked proposal.

A diplomat who watched Kushner’s presentation quoted him as saying that Trump had given him the Israeli-Palestinian “file” to give the long-elusive goal of a peace agreement “a shot.”

Despite the long odds, he said he believed “privately, people are much more flexible” than their public positions, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity according to protocol.

Some 60 countries took part in the gathering, including five Arab foreign ministers that made a rare public appearance alongside Netanyahu.