Kushner ignores, then blames Palestinians
WASHINGTON — For three years, presidential senior adviser and sonin-law Jared Kushner, a man of many portfolios, spent considerable time on a plan aimed at addressing the intractable conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
He was generally quiet about what he was doing, maintaining a patina of diplomatic circumspection.
Now, however, after the plan was released last week in a White House ceremony with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and no Palestinians in attendance, Kushner seems to have plenty to say — mostly harsh criticism of the Palestinians who were not involved in shaping the plan and flatly rejected it.
His tone, current and former officials said, reflects the unlikelihood that the plan will survive, even though it could have far-reaching consequences.
Over the weekend, the 22-nation Arab League unanimously rejected it, despite Kushner’s assurances that numerous Arab states were on board. The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation followed suit Monday.
The plan, enthusiastically embraced by most Israelis, would deny the Palestinians an independent state and lead to a single “apartheid” system in which the Palestinians living in the West Bank are second-class citizens, said Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who is Egyptian.
If Israel follows through on some of the plan’s tacit promises — such as imposing Israeli sovereignty over at least a third of the Palestinian-claimed West Bank, including the crucial Jordan Valley — those steps will prove extremely difficult to reverse.
Some people who have spoken to Kushner privately during the months of sputtering talks involving Israel and a number of Gulf States said his harsh rhetoric reflects his true feelings about Palestinians, which he kept at bay before unveiling the plan. He also may be hoping to apply greater pressure on the Palestinians.
“He was probably holding off because he didn’t want to totally close the door,” said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace-plan negotiator and now director of the Middle East Project, a policy institute. “Once you’ve put out the plan, what’s the use of sugarcoating it with anyone?”
Levy was among numerous experts, diplomats, international officials and Democratic lawmakers who blasted the Trump-Kushner plan for failing to address Palestinian aspirations for nationhood and for making tough demands on Palestinians before they could even ask for a demilitarized state, while granting a near-full slate of concessions to Israel. The plan also denies the Palestinians a capital in East Jerusalem, offering instead a collection of slums to the east of the city.
Many experts said the deal was a nonstarter for Palestinians, but were unclear whether Kushner realized that.
Philip Gordon, the White House senior official on the Middle East under the Obama administration now with the Council on Foreign Relations, suggested Kushner’s language reflects his impatience and angry frustration.
“He feels like he’s invested three years in this. It’s his moment of glory on behalf of the president. And (the Palestinians are) standing in his way,” Gordon said.
Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, which assesses global risks, said Kushner — scion of a family long dedicated to conservative proIsrael causes — might have calculated that any sort of deal would be impossible if the Palestinians, especially under Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, were involved in the drafting stages.