White House senior adviser Jared Kushner urged a group of ambassadors to keep an “open mind” vis-à-vis the anticipated Middle East peace initiative, dubbed by President Donald Trump as “the deal of the century.”
In a report published by the global Reuters news-agency, which was confirmed as “accurate” by the President’s special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt, Kushner revealed that the peace plan is to be unveiled after Israel forms its new governing coalition and after the Muslim month of Ramadan, which ends in early June.
According to a source, who asked to remain unidentified, Trump’s senior advisor insisted that “the plan will require concessions from both sides but won’t jeopardize the security of Israel.” According to the report, “The proposal has two major components: A political piece that addresses core political issues as the status of Jerusalem, and an economic part that aims to help the Palestinians strengthen their economy.”
What remains unclear, however, is whether the plan will outright propose the creation of a Palestinian state, which is the Palestinian core demand.
Meanwhile in the West Bank city of Ramallah, newly appointed Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh insisted that the Palestinian Authority would reject the anticipated Trump-peace initiative, declaring that the so-called “deal of the century” will be “born dead.”
In his first interview with international media outlets since assuming the post over the weekend, Mohammad Shtayyeh predicted that the international community, including Washington’s allies in Europe and the Arab world, will back the Palestinians in rejecting President Trump’s peace initiative.
Despite the continued unrelenting-rejection of any initiative proposed by the United States under the Trump Administration, Prime Minister Shtayyeh claimed that the Palestinians remain committed to the establishment of an independent state of their-own, based on the 1967 lines, in territories that were under Jordanian control before Israel seized them during the six-day Middle East war.
While the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem did not immediately respond to TV7’s request for comment; President Trump’s special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt released a response on his twitter account that read: “PM Shtayyeh, starting a new job by condemning a plan you haven’t seen is unfair to Palestinians. You have an obligation to first look at an opportunity before you dismiss it. The PA can continue to push us away, but that will do nothing to improve the lives of the Palestinians.”