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White House’s Kushner in Jerusalem for Israeli talks
JERUSALEM, May 30, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law
and aide Jared Kushner was in Jerusalem on Thursday as part of a Middle East
trip focused on the White House’s expected plan for Israeli-Palestinian
peace.
Kushner was expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but
no details were released of his schedule.
A US embassy spokeswoman confirmed he had arrived following earlier stops
in Morocco and Jordan.
Kushner, accompanied by Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt and Brian Hook, the US
special representative for Iran, is a key architect of the peace plan the
White House is expected to unveil.
But the plan, previously delayed for an Israeli general election on April
9, could face further postponements due to Israeli politics.
Israel is set to hold another general election in September after Netanyahu
failed to form a coalition government, and the plan is widely seen as too
sensitive an issue to introduce during a political campaign.
The Palestinian leadership has also already rejected the plan, saying that
Trump’s moves have shown him to be blatantly biased in favour of Israel.
Those moves include declaring the disputed city of Jerusalem Israel’s
capital and cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian aid.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II insisted during Kushner’s visit Wednesday on the
“need to intensify efforts to achieve a comprehensive and lasting peace based
on the two-state solution, that would guarantee the establishment of an
independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.”
The United States is expected to roll out the economic aspects of the peace
plan at a conference in Bahrain on June 25-26, but Palestinian leaders say
they will not attend.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1510 hrs