Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Kushner opens peace talks trip
Trump’s chief Middle East adviser meets with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
JERUSALEM — President Donald Trump’s sonin-law and chief Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, made his first solo visit to the region Wednesday, holding separate meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an attempt to restart long-dormant peace talks.
Sitting down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Kushner and other U.S. officials discussed “potential next steps” to make progress on Trump’s goal of “a genuine and lasting peace” between Israelis and Palestinians, the White House said.
“The United States officials and Israeli leadership underscored that forging peace will take time and stressed the importance of doing everything possible to create an environment conducive to peacemaking,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.
Kushner, whose family has a long relationship with Netanyahu, met with the Israeli leader in Jerusalem before heading to the West Bank city of Ramallah for a late-night meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Trump administration faces the same obstacles that have doomed previous attempts by a string of Republican and Democratic administrations: deep disagreements over key issues such as borders, dueling claims to Jerusalem and the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
Trump made a visit to the region last month and appears to have forged a good working relationship with both sides.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu warmly greeted Kushner with a smile and hug. “This is an opportunity to pursue our common goals of security, prosperity and peace,” Netanyahu said.
“The president sends his best regards, and it’s an honor to be here with you,” Kushner said.
Reporters were barred from covering the meetings and did not have an opportunity to ask Kushner questions.
Trump has tasked Kushner with the ambitious goal of laying the groundwork for what he calls the “ultimate deal” — but deep divisions remain, clouding chances of a significant breakthrough in one of the longest Mideast crises.
The White House appeared to play down expectations for a breakthrough ahead of the visit, saying that “forging a historic peace agreement will take time” and that Kushner and envoy Jason Greenblatt will likely make “many visits” to the region.
The United States is expected to pressure each side to make goodwill gestures in hopes of improving the overall climate.
That means putting pressure on Israel to restrain its construction of settlements on occupied lands sought by the Palestinians. It also could mean working with Israel to take new steps to help improve the struggling Palestinian economy, such as easing restrictions to allow more development of West Bank lands.
At a security conference on Tuesday, Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlonsaid he was open to promoting Palestinian development as long as it does not threaten Israeli security.
The Palestinians, meanwhile, will come under pressure to halt what Israel sees as incitement to violence in their official press, speeches and social media.
Israel has also demanded that the Palestinians stop making welfare payments to families of militants who are either imprisoned or were killed while committing attacks on Israelis. Israel says the so-called Martyrs’ Fund provides an incentive for Palestinian violence.
A senior Palestinian official said that a preparatory meeting with Greenblatt on Tuesday had not gone well and became tense over the Martyrs’ Fund. He said the Americans “are buying” Netanyahu’s complaints about Palestinian incitement and that Greenblatt was insisting on an end to the welfare payments.
After arriving early Wednesday, Kushner paid a condolence visit to the grieving family of a young female Israeli police officer who was killed by Palestinian attackers last weekend in Jerusalem.