U. S. could release peace proposal soon
WASHINGTON » The Trump administration is close to releasing a long- awaited Middle East peace proposal that officials said would present U.S. goals for a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, despite the Palestinian position that President Donald Trump cannot be an honest broker.
The proposal is likely to be released within weeks, with the aim of beginning negotiations between the parties, perhaps as early as this summer, diplomats and other officials said. It has been delayed by a monthslong Palestinian boycott in protest of Trump’s policy that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas may reject the framework out of hand.
“If he doesn’t give it a read, if he just sticks with the language which he’s been saying publicly, such as the U.S. is out [as a peacemaker] and that he won’t even look at it, that type of language, well shame on him,” a senior Trump administration official said. “How does that help the Palestinian people?”
The exact timing of a release is not set. “We’re going to let the situation on the ground determine when to do it rather than deciding on a deadline and force it,” said the official, who like others interviewed requested anonymity because the plan has not been released. “We have one shot, right? We want to get it right.”
Trump adviser and sonin-law Jared Kushner and the chief U. S. negotiator, former Trump attorney Jason D. Greenblatt, are visiting Arab capitals and Israel this week to describe some elements of the administration’s vision and seek help in drawing Palestinian leadership to the table.
They are not meeting with Abbas or his advisers. Abbas and his Fatah party have refused to meet or talk with White House officials since December, when Trump announced the change to decades of U. S. policy on Jerusalem. Trump recognized it as the Israeli capital and also followed through with a campaign promise to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to the city, part of which the Palestinians also claim as the capital of a future state.
The plan, some 18 months in the making, is expected to include U.S. recommendations to resolve the major disputes in the 70-year conflict, including the status of Jerusalem, as well as economic and humanitarian proposals aimed at improving Palestinian daily life.
It is unlikely to satisfy the core Palestinian demand that Israel relinquish all the territory it captured from Arab states in the 1967 wars.