The Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan, while written, is not a closed and sealed document – and is being tweaked as new information comes in, according to diplomatic sources.
According to the sources, the drafters of the document – Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner; Jason Greenblatt, special representative for international negotiations; and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman – are taking into consideration both the realities on the ground and input they are receiving from various quarters.
The sources, however, seemed confident that the plan will indeed be presented, even though voices have been raised encouraging the administration not to present the plan if it has no chance of success.
Former IDF chief-of-staff Gadi Eisenkot reportedly told Greenblatt at a meeting last week that there could be a violent escalation in the West Bank, and that this is something that the administration should take into consideration when deciding on presenting the plan.
Kushner said last month that the plan would be presented after Ramadan, which ends on June 4, and Greenblatt said last week that it will come after Shavuot, which ends in the Diaspora on June 9.
The draft document is reported to be nearly 200 pages long, and – as Kushner said last month – it is an “in-depth operational document” that shows what we think is possible, how people can live together, how security can work, how interaction can work and, really, how you try to form the outline of what a brighter future can be.”
Though the plan has been in the works for more than two years, very few details of it have emerged, beyond that it will provide concrete proposals to dealing with the core issues of Jerusalem, refugees, borders and security arrangements. It is also expected to have a heavy economic component, relying on support from the Arab world, in an effort to improve the lives of the Palestinians.
Vague statements that the plan will be released after Ramadan and Shavuot – without any exact date given – have triggered speculation that the plan, delayed so often already, may not ever be released, though diplomatic sources involved in the process said this was not likely.
Greenblatt, in an interview on Friday with Majalla – a Saudi-owned, London-based weekly that appears online in Arabic, English and Farsi – said: “There will never be a perfect time to try to make peace, but the status quo does not work for anyone – people are suffering; the region is suffering.”