WarSclerotic

US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner on Tuesday launched scathing attacks against the Palestinian leadership, which he said has lied to the Palestinian public for years by promising them “fairy tales” that cannot be achieved.

In media interviews Kushner gave to the pan-Arabic Al Jazeera network and US broadcaster CNN, he answered questions about the Trump administration’s peace plan, which was released earlier in the day, and which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would agree to.

The plan does not include some key demands by Palestinians, such as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem being part of their capital, the return of Palestinian refugees to live in Israel, and the removal of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It also allows for broad Israeli annexation moves.

“It’s time to let go of past fairy tales that quite frankly will never happen,” Kushner told Al Jazeera.

“The Palestinians have been lied to for so many years and they have been promised things and there has been no counter to the promises that have been made to them,” he said. “If they have expectations that are not realistic then I feel bad for them. They’ve been lied to by their leadership and they’ve been lied to by a lot of people and they’ve been used as pawns in the Middle East.”

In the past, he said, Palestinian leaders “have gotten all these demands and there hasn’t been a counter to explain why the positions are not rational or achievable positions, and, as a result of that, they have not made peace and the people’s lives have continued to suffer and they blame their suffering on Israel as opposed to blaming the suffering on the leadership.”

“The Palestinian people are on a terrible trajectory thanks to a lot of bad decisions by their leadership,” Kushner continued. “They have to stop holding out for myths that will never come, and fairytales that will never come.”

“The Palestinian Authority would rather go and complain as opposed to come to the table and negotiate, which, quite frankly, shows that they are not ready to have a state,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an event with President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House in Washington, January 28, 2020, to announce the Trump administration’s much-anticipated plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Kushner said that if the Palestinians are prepared to negotiate, they will find in Israel a “very willing partner” for any suggestions that will make the lives of Palestinians better.

The Palestinian people need an opportunity “to lead a better life. They need dignity, they need jobs, they need opportunity, they need good leadership,” Kushner said. “This is the best opportunity they have ever had and I really hope they seize it.”

He claimed that, throughout the world, there are those who care about the Palestinian people and are urging their leadership to negotiate on the basis of the Trump plan.

“The entire Arab world is begging for the Palestinians to resolve this. You have security cooperation with Israel going on. Israel is a technology superpower; people want to do business with them. There’s a lot that can happen now that could be very, very positive for the region and the world,” Kushner said.

Breaking with past US administrations, the plan envisions the creation of a Palestinian state in part of the West Bank, a handful of neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and some areas of southern Israel — on condition that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state and Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip disarm.

The plan also calls for allowing Israel to annex settlements, granting the Jewish state sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, as well as ongoing overall security control west of the Jordan River, and barring Palestinians from entering Israel as refugees.

Jerusalem would remain “the undivided” capital of Israel, Trump stressed as he unveiled the plan in the White House Tuesday, with Netanyahu standing next to him.

Screen capture from video of US presidential adviser Jared Kushner, during an interview with the CNN network, January 27, 2020. (Twitter)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas firmly rejected the plan in a speech to senior Palestinian leaders, including representatives of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups.

“We say a thousand times: No, no and no to the ‘deal of the century,’” Abbas said, adding that the US plan “will not come to pass” and that “our people will send it to the dustbins of history.”

Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Kusher kept up his attacks on the Palestinian leadership, accusing the Palestinian leadership of calling a “day of rage” in the West Bank in response to the peace plan. Though the PA did not call for a day of rage, Abbas has indicated that his forces would not stand in the way of protesters.

“What are they calling for? They are calling for a day of rage,” Kushner said. “Who do you know who runs a state that when they don’t get what they want they call for a day of rage? That’s not how people who are capable of running a state work.

“If they screw up this opportunity — and again, they’ve had a perfect track record of screwing up opportunities — I think they will have a very hard time looking the international community in the face saying they’re victims, saying they have rights. This is a great deal for them if they come to the table and negotiate,” he said.

“The Palestinian leadership have to ask themselves a question,” Kushner said.” Do they want to have a state? Do they want to have a better life? If they do, then we have created a framework for them to have it and we will treat them in a very respectable manner. If they don’t, then they are going to screw up another opportunity just like they’ve screwed up every other opportunity in their existence.”

“You have five million Palestinians who are really trapped because of bad leadership,” he added.

The plan, he said, “unquestionably” makes the lives of Palestinians better and makes Israel “much more secure.”

With Israel having agreed to the plan, “you are going to see them becoming less and less isolated internationally and you’re going to see more and more pressure put on Palestinian leadership to do it.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday unveiled his long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, saying it will enshrine Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided” capital and enable Israeli sovereignty in parts of the West Bank, while also providing for an eventual Palestinian state with “eastern Jerusalem” as its capital.

He hailed the plan as marking “a big step towards peace” for Israel, and said “we have an obligation to humanity” to get the deal done.

Speaking at the White House alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the US president said support for the plan by both Netanyahu and his election rival, Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, showed “peace transcends politics in Israel.”

“This vision for peace is fundamentally different from past diplomacies,” Trump said. “Even the most well-intentioned plans were light on factual details and heavy on conceptual framework.” He added that his plan was 80-pages long, calling it “the most detailed proposal ever.”

“Today, Israel is taking a big step toward peace… Netanyahu informed me that he is willing to endorse the vision as a basis for direct negotiations.”

The US president said that the “peace vision” that Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has been working on for nearly three years calls for a two-state solution, includes detailed maps of territory.

He said the future Palestinian state will be contiguous, but would not be able to threaten Israel’s security interests.

US President Donald Trump (R), joined by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, January 28, 2020, to announce the Trump administration’s much-anticipated plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump said his plan includes “a realistic two-state solution,” and that his administration would “work to create a territory for a contiguous Palestinian state in the future” that would “reject terrorism.”

He hailed Netanyahu as “willing to endorse the vision as the base for direct negotiations.” Calling it “a historic breakthrough,” he added: “Mr. Netanyahu, thank you for being willing to take this bold step forward.”

Trump said the plan more than doubles the territory currently under Palestinian control, but also that the United States would “recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory that my vision provides to be part of the State of Israel” — a reference to West Bank settlements.

The Palestinians have already rejected the proposal, accusing Trump of being biased in favor of Israel as he has adopted policies that bolster Israel at their expense.

Trump thanked representatives of the Arab states of Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates for being in attendance, which could possibly mean those countries support the plan. Oman’s Ambassador Hunaina al Mughairy, asked by The Times of Israel whether her presence meant the sultanate accepts the peace plan, replied: “We haven’t seen the plan yet.”

Under the plan, Jerusalem will remain Israel’s “undivided capital,” Trump said, raising eyebrows after he had said that the capital of the Palestinian state would be in “eastern Jerusalem,” where the United States would “proudly open an embassy.”

He said the status quo in Jerusalem’s Temple Mount compound will be preserved in coordination with Jordan, which will maintain its special role in managing the Al-Aqsa Mosque (which Trump mispronounced as “al-aqua”).

He said the Palestinian state would be formed in a way that “resolves the risk to Israel’s security” and the risk of terror attacks, saying: “We will never ask Israel to compromise its security.”

“No Israelis or Palestinians will be uprooted from their homes,” he added, saying West Bank settlements wouldn’t be expanded for four years, during which negotiations will be advanced.

Trump said he was “saddened by the fate of the Palestinian people. They deserve a far better life — they deserve a chance to achieve their extraordinary potential.”

“We are asking the Palestinians to meet the challenges of peaceful coexistence,” Trump said, calling on them to pass laws enshrining human rights, “stop the malign activities” of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups, “end incitement” against Israel and “halt financial compensation to terrorists.”

Trump said the plan would “end the cycle of Palestinian dependence on charity.”

He said making peace between Israel and the Palestinians “may be the most difficult challenge of all,” noting that many former US presidents had failed to achieve that. “But I was not elected to do small things or shy away from problems,” he added.

“We will be there every step of the way. It will work. If they do it, it’ll work.”

The plan builds on a 30-page economic plan for the West Bank and Gaza that was unveiled last June and which the Palestinians have also rejected.

International reactions came quickly following US President Donald Trump’s unveiling of his administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan at the White House on Tuesday.

Many Western countries and international bodies said they needed time to assess the plan, reiterating their support for the longtime international consensus favoring a two-state solution to the conflict on the basis of the pre-1967 borders.

Jordan gave the plan a cool reaction, saying it remained committed to a two-state solution based on Israel’s pre-1967 lines. It also said it rejected any unilateral move by Israel, referring to the annexation plan.

Egypt, the first Arab country to reach a peace deal with Israel, urged Israelis and Palestinians to carefully study the plan, and Saudi Arabia expressed support for a return to negotiations. The European Union said it needed to study the outline more closely.

But the United Arab Emirates issued a strikingly positive reaction, with its ambassador to the United States saying on Twitter that his country “appreciates continued US efforts to reach a Palestine-Israel peace agreement.”

“This plan is a serious initiative that addresses many issues raised over the years. The only way to guarantee a lasting solution is to reach an agreement between all concerned parties. The UAE believes that Palestinians and Israelis can achieve lasting peace and genuine coexistence with the support of the international community. The plan announced today offers an important starting point for a return to negotiations within a US-led international framework,” he said.

Along with fellow Gulf Arab states Bahrain and Oman, the United Arab Emirates sent its ambassador to Trump’s announcement alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite the country’s not recognizing the Jewish state.

Saudi Arabia expressed its longtime support for the “brotherly Palestinian people,” and said it backed “all efforts aimed at reaching a just and comprehensive resolution to the Palestinian cause.”

“The Kingdom appreciate the efforts of President Trump’s Administration to develop a comprehensive peace plan between the Palestinian and Israeli sides; and encourages the start of direct peace negotiation between the Palestinian and israeli sides, under the auspices of the United States,” Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The State of Qatar welcomes all efforts aiming towards a longstanding and just peace in the occupied Palestinian territories. It also appreciates the endeavors of President Trump and the current US administration to find solutions for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the country’s QNA news agency.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations remained committed to supporting Palestinians and Israelis in resolving their conflict on the basis of UN resolutions, international law and bilateral agreements.

He said the UN was also committed to realizing the vision of two states “living side by side in peace and security within recognized borders, on the basis of the pre-1967 borders,” according to his spokesman.

“The position of the United Nations on the two-State solution has been defined, throughout the years, by relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions by which the Secretariat is bound,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Those resolutions call all Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal and call for a solution based on the borders before the 1967 Six Day War, with agreed land swaps.

The European Union’s top diplomat said that the bloc remains “firm and united” behind the quest for a negotiated two-state peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

“The European Union will study and assess the proposals put forward,” EU representative Josep Borrell said. But he added: “This will be done on the basis of the EU’s established position and its firm and united commitment to a negotiated and viable two-state solution that takes into account the legitimate aspirations of both the Palestinians and the Israelis, respecting all relevant UN resolutions and internationally agreed parameters.”

Borrell acknowledged that “today’s initiative by the United States provides an occasion to re-launch the urgently needed efforts towards a negotiated and viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

But he made it clear that European capitals see the need for more inclusive negotiation ahead.

“The EU reaffirms its readiness to work towards the resumption of meaningful negotiations to resolve all permanent status issues and to achieve a just and lasting peace,” he said. “It urges both sides to demonstrate, through policies and actions, a genuine commitment to the two-state solution as the only realistic way to end the conflict.”

US President Donald Trump (R), joined by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, January 28, 2020, to announce the Trump administration’s much-anticipated plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Borrell’s statement did not say if he had consulted some or all EU members before issuing his reaction, but most capitals have previously expressed support for a negotiated solution.

Iran said the plan amounted to the “treason of the century” and was bound to fail.

“The shameful peace plan imposed by America on the Palestinians is the treason of the century and doomed to fail,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter that the “so-called ‘Vision for Peace’ is simply the dream project of a bankruptcy-ridden real estate developer,” referring to Trump.

“But it is a nightmare for the region and the world and, hopefully, a wake-up call for all the Muslims who have been barking up the wrong tree,” wrote Zarif, whose country does not recognize Israel and routinely threatens to destroy it.

Turkey slammed the proposal as “stillborn,” calling it an “annexation plan” intended to destroy hopes for a two-state solution.

“The United States’ so-called peace plan is stillborn,” Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “This is an annexation plan aimed at killing a two-state solution and extorting the Palestinian territory. Palestinian people and its land cannot be bought for money.”

Turkey repeated its longtime mantra that Jerusalem was Ankara’s “red line.”

“We will not allow any step that will legitimize Israel’s occupation and persecution. We will always stand by brotherly Palestinian people. We will work for an independent Palestine in the Palestinian territory,” the ministry said. “We will not support any plan that is not accepted by Palestine. There will be no peace in the Middle East without an end to the occupation policies.”

Russia called on Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate directly to find a “mutually acceptable compromise.”

“We do not know if the American proposal is mutually acceptable or not. We must wait for the reaction of the parties,” Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Russian news agencies. “The important thing is that Palestinians and Arabs express their opinion,” he said, adding that Moscow would study the US plan.

Palestinian leaders had already resoundingly rejected Trump’s plan when he presented it alongside Netanyahu at a White House press conference. No Palestinian official was present at the launch.

Palestinians take part in a demonstration in the West Bank city of Nablus on January 28, 2020, to protest against US President Donald Trump’s peace plan proposal. (Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Netanyahu is expected to visit Moscow on Wednesday to present the plan to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia has repeatedly said it is prepared to host direct talks between the Israeli and Palestinian camps.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the plan was “clearly a serious proposal, reflecting extensive time and effort.”

“A peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians that leads to peaceful coexistence could unlock the potential of the entire region, and provide both sides with the opportunity for a brighter future,” Raab said in a statement. “Only the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian territories can determine whether these proposals can meet the needs and aspirations of the people they represent. We encourage them to give these plans genuine and fair consideration, and explore whether they might prove a first step on the road back to negotiations.”

Earlier, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Trump to discuss the plans. Downing Street said they “could prove a positive step forwards.”

UK Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn said that the proposal “is not a peace plan. It is a plan to lock in illegal Israeli colonisation and deny Palestinian rights. It is a threat to peace.”

Germany’s foreign minister reacted cautiously, saying the plan raises questions that need to be addressed.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement that “only a negotiated two-state solution that is acceptable to both parties can lead to lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.” He added that “on that basis, every impetus laid out in such a way as to set the long-stalled Middle East peace process in motion again is to be welcomed.”

Maas said the US proposal “raises questions” that Germany will discuss with its European partners. Those, he said, include the involvement of the two sides in a negotiating process and “its relationship to recognized international parameters and legal positions.”

Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz wrote on Twitter: “I welcome the release of the #US plan which hopefully brings new momentum to the [Middle East Peace Process] having been in a deadlock for far too long. We call on the parties to start negotiations on the basis of this plan under #US leadership with a view to achieving a two-state-solution.