Kushner visits Middle East leaders
JERUSALEM — President Donald Trump’s son-inlaw and chief Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, made his first solo visit Wednesday to the region, holding separate meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an attempt to lay the groundwork for a resumption of peace negotiations for the first time in three years.
After a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that lasted more than two hours, the White House released a summary statement saying the Israeli and U.S. participants “underscored that forging peace will take time and stressed the importance of doing everything possible to create an environment conducive to peace making.”
The statement described themeeting as “productive.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, issued a statement saying the Palestinian leader and Mr. Kushner held a detailed discussion that focused on issues at the core of a final status agreement, such as the fate of Palestinian refugees and Palestinian prisoners.
The Trump administration faces the same obstacles that have doomed previous attempts by a string of Republican and Democratic administrations: disagreements over key issues such as borders, dueling claims to Jerusalem and the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
But Mr. Kushner enjoys some advantages that could allow him to make progress. Mr. Trump made a successful visit to the region last month and appears to have forged a good working relationship with both sides, and Mr. Kushner’s family has a long relationship with Mr. Netanyahu.
Pressure on N. Korea
Top Trump administration officials held high-level meetings Wednesday with their Chinese counterparts as the White House struggles to find new ways to put pressure on North Korea to throttle back its nuclear arms program.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis pushed Chinese foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi and Gen. Fang Fenghui, chief of the People’s Liberation Army’s joint staff department, to rein in companies that deal with North Korea.
The security talks between U.S. and Chinese diplomats and defense chiefs were occurring amid outrage in Washington over the death of Otto Warmbier days after the American student was released from imprisonment in North Korea in a coma.
U. S. lawmakers are pressing for a tough response against Pyongyang.
Wake of U.S. sanctions
The Kremlin voiced displeasure Wednesday about new United States sanctions against Russia and called off much-anticipated talks with a senior U.S administration official in response.