Kushner: Deal will not adhere to Arab Peace Initiative
Trump's adviser and son-in-law said that the plan would create a million jobs, halve Palestinian poverty and double the Palestinians' GDP.
By REUTERSJared Kushner in an interview with Reuters(photo credit: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE)
Reaching an Israeli-Palestinian deal along the lines of the Arab peace initiative will not be possible, requiring instead a stance between that and the Israeli position, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said in an interview with Al Jazeera."I think we all have to recognize that if there ever is a deal, it's not going to be along the lines of the Arab peace initiative. It will be somewhere between the Arab peace initiative and between the Israeli position," Kushner told Al Jazeera in an interview that will air on Tuesday.As part of the Arab Peace Initiative, Arab states led by Saudi Arabia have called for a Palestinian state drawn along borders that pre-date Israel's capture of territory in a 1967 war as well as a capital in east Jerusalem and the right of return for refugees, points rejected by Israel.The comments come ahead of a workshop in Bahrain to showcase the economic portion of Washington's long-awaited Arab-Israeli peace plan, a $50 billion development plan unveiled this week that has faced sharp criticism from Arabs across the region.The lack of a political solution, which Washington has said would be unveiled later, has prompted rejection not only from Palestinians but in Arab countries with which Israel would seek normal relations.Though Kushner has said that only the economic portions of the plan will be discussed in Manama, the comments offer a rare glimpse into what the political aspects of the peace plan may entail."All of the people I speak to, they talk about the Arab Peace Initiative, and again it was a great effort, but if that was where a deal was going to be made a deal would have been made a long time ago," said Kushner, who is President Donald Trump's son-in-law.
