Jared is now coming up with his peace plan, based on economic development, which he is presenting at a conference in Bahrain. Palestinians will not even attend, saying it is dead-on-arrival because they have been insulted rather than consulted. It does not address their real problems of confined borders and complete control by the Israelis, and it fails even to mention a two-state solution. Jared is too close personally to Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israelis to be an honest broker; rather he seeks to impose the plan on the Palestinians.
Totally gone seems to be any pathway to a two state system, which has long been the core of any peace plan. So, needless to say, selling the plan is not going well. Jen Kirby, writing for Vox.com has this to say:
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Calling it the "deal of the century," Kushner's plan centers on economic development for the Palestinians. According to Kirby, "The plan is billed as 'a vision to empower the Palestinian people to build a prosperous and vibrant Palestinian society,' and the administration claims it has 'the potential to facilitate more than $50 billion in new investment over ten years.'
"But critics have slammed the proposal, likening it to a 'real estate brochure' -- complete with glossy promotional photos from Palestinian aid programs that the Trump administration has cut.
"For one the plan lacks any details about a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That's by design: Kushner decided to put out the economic half of the plan first before releasing the political half sometime later this year, saying that releasing the economic piece was 'less controversial.'
"But without that second political half, the economic proposal is essentially meaningless. It's hard to imagine anyone investing billions of dollars in big infrastructure and transportation projects for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza while the Israeli government continues to annex more and more territory in the former and regularly bombs the latter.
"And it gets worse. . . .
"Palestinian leaders have boycotted any and all involvement with the Trump administration's peace efforts in protest of the administration's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and cut funding for the United Nations agency that supports Palestinian refugees. And since the Palestinians decided to skip the conference, the administration evidently decided not to invite the Israeli government either. . . .
"Despite these setbacks, Kushner seems undeterred. In an interview with Al Jazeera, he said the conference was already a success [because of the number of countries from the region that are coming -- actually sending mid-level representatives. . . . But]
". . . without any official government representatives for either the Palestinians or the Israelis in attendance, it's unclear what exactly all those other people are going to talk about. . . .
"Kushner admitted that any economic plan wouldn't succeed 'without an enduring and fair political solution to the conflict, one that guarantees Israel's security and respects the dignity of the Palestinian people.' But, he reminded the audience, 'today is not about the political issues' and said he would address them at the 'right time.'
"Instead, Kushner asked attendees to imagine a 'bustling commercial tourist center in Gaza and the West Bank,' a place where international business could 'come together and thrive' . . . .
". . . Kushner's address and the Bahrain conference more broadly will probably do little to convince the Palestinians that the Trump administration plan will really offer a 'different lens' from which to look at the conflict.
"Kushner's decision not to engage with the politics deliberately divorces it from the very issues that make resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so difficult. For example, as Kushner discussed bustling tourism in the West Bank, he failed to mention the Israeli occupation of it. . . .
". . . without major stakeholders, it's unclear what this conference will achieve A former State Department official suggested to the Guardian that the attendees who came did so for cynical reasons, including to 'curry favor' with the Trump administration.
"It's also not clear when Kushner will debut the political piece of his peace plan. Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government despite his election victory, leading to new elections in September. It seems unlikely that the administration will make public any plan until Israel resolves its leadership crisis.
"That puts the big reveal sometime in the fall. But that's also when the US presidential elections will heat up, making it risky for the Trump administration to expend any political capital on a plan that already seems dead on arrival."
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Obviously, no seriously knowledgeable, non-partisan Middle East experts were consulted -- or at least their advice was not heeded. This has all the earmarks of Trump-Kushner-Netanyahu and Sheldon Adelson thinking. It's all about the money and power. Obviously the Palestinians were not consulted or listened to: "insulted, not consulted" seems to be the apt phrase.
If we elect a Democratic president in 2020, perhaps we can scrap this plan and start over. If Trump gets re-elected, Middle East Peace will be one of the minor problems we will have.
Ralph
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