FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP FAMILY/JARED KUSHNER: “President Donald Trump, who has pledged to broker the ‘ultimate deal’ between the Israelis and Palestinians, faces major obstacles to getting them to even negotiate as his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner arrives in Israel this week.
The White House says the discussions will focus on ‘the path to substantive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks,’ combating extremism and economic and humanitarian issues in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Mr. Kushner’s delegation is set to meet with Israeli and then Palestinian officials separately on Thursday [8-24-17].
But the U.S. hasn’t received assurances that the two sides will talk to one another—let alone take steps to resolve the decadeslong conflict. A White House official emphasized that the U.S. is still in the initial stages of the process and has yet to formally propose a new peace dialogue.
The Palestinians’ quest for statehood is among the biggest hurdles to direct negotiations.
Many Israeli officials won’t support the creation of a Palestinian state; Palestinian officials don’t want to negotiate without statehood as the goal. The White House hasn’t said how it plans to bridge the gap, say Israeli and Palestinian officials.
The deadlock underscores the tough task Mr. Trump faces in forging Middle East peace—a signature foreign policy goal that has eluded American leaders for decades. Mr. Trump in February backed off the U.S.’s longstanding commitment to a two-state strategy, saying he would support whatever solution both parties prefer.
Mr. Trump has deputized Mr. Kushner, a 36-year-old former real-estate developer with no experience negotiating foreign conflicts, to spearhead the peace efforts.
In leaked comments from an off-record meeting with congressional interns this month, Mr. Kushner said ‘there may be no solution’ to the conflict but said he would try because it was ‘one of the problem sets the president asked us to focus on.’ “
-Rory Jones and Paul Sonne, “First Hurdle in Trump’s Mideast Peace Gambit: Persuading Adversaries to Talk,” The Wall Street journal online, Aug. 23, 2017 08:00am