US plans Mideast peace push after ‘cooling off’ over Jerusalem
WASHINGTON: The White House is to renew efforts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, officials said Friday, despite outrage over President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Senior administration officials said efforts to push the process forward will be rekindled as soon as next week, in the hope that anger at Trump’s move will subside.
Trump on Dec 6 announced a break with decades of American policy, effectively ignoring Palestinian claims on the Holy City.
The decision has sparked almost universal diplomatic condemnation and deadly protests in the Palestinian territories.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas — 82 years old and facing the prospect of entering the history books as the leader who ‘lost Jerusalem’ — took the dramatic move of cancelling a planned meeting with Vice President Mike Pence.
The vice-president is due to arrive in Jerusalem on Wednesday, although he is not slated to meet Palestinian leaders.
“We understand that the Palestinians may need a bit of a cooling off period, that’s fine,” said one senior administration official.
The White House hopes that Pence’s visit can begin to draw a line under the issue.
“Obviously the last couple of weeks in the region have been a reaction to the Jerusalem decision,” said a second senior administration official.
“We’ve seen a lot of the emotion that has been displayed on that.”
“This trip is kind of part of the ending of that chapter and the beginning of the next chapter ... We still continue to be focused on a peace process and how we ultimately bring that situation to a conclusion.”
The vice-president will be joined in Israel by Trump’s chief peace negotiator Jason Greenblatt, who has not met his Palestinian interlocutors since Dec 6.
“We will be ready when the Palestinians are ready to reengage,” said the first official.
But hopes for a quick resumption of peace talks may prove optimistic. On Friday alone, four Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded in violence with Israeli forces across the Palestinian territories.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the move as a ‘bomb’ thrown at the entire Middle East.
And US administration officials risked pouring gasoline on the flames Friday, stating that the Western Wall — in largely Palestinian east Jerusalem — would almost certainly be part of Israel under any deal. — AFP
This trip is kind of part of the ending of that chapter and the beginning of the next chapter ... We still continue to be focused on a peace process and how we ultimately bring that situation to a conclusion. — Senior administration official