Trump Administration Ready to Make Mideast Peace Plan Public

Jared Kushner, left, shown with U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and his fellow Middle East peace negotiator Jason Greenblatt at a United Nations conference in New York, Feb. 20, 2018. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The Trump administration is finishing up its Middle East peace plan and intends to make it public soon, The New York Times reported.

According to the report published March 11, the plan does not call for a two-state solution.

The White House must now figure out how to present the plan so that it is not immediately rejected by the Palestinians, the newspaper reported, citing three unnamed senior administration officials.

An unnamed senior aide to President Donald Trump compared the plan to Waze, the Israeli-developed traffic navigation software.

According to the report, the officials said the plan does not have a set of guiding principles. It gives the outlines of a peace plan and leaves the Israelis and the Palestinians to fill in the details. Also, they said, the plan also does not specifically call for a two-state solution as a goal nor for a “fair and just solution” for Palestinian refugees, though it will offer suggestions on both points.

The aides told The Times that the document proposes solutions to all the key disputes: borders, security, refugees and the status of Jerusalem.

The Palestinians have said they will not consider a U.S.-proposed peace plan due to their anger over Trump’s announcement recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his intent to move the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv in May. Netanyahu is less likely to be willing to make compromises, as he faces early elections due to coalition disputes and fears fallout from possible corruption charges. The plan also comes as Trump has begun the process of dealing with North Korea.

The report points out that no one outside of the Trump administration has seen the plan document, and that the people who wrote it — Jared Kushner, Jason Greenblatt and David Friedman – had no previous experience in diplomacy. But the three men reportedly met last week with Netanyahu for several hours while he was in Washington, D.C., to address the annual AIPAC policy conference and meet with Trump.

You May Also Like
Local Young Athletes Score Big at the Mid-Atlantic Mini & Junior Maccabi Games

More than 100 young local Jewish athletes participated in the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Mini & Junior Maccabi Games in Wilmington, Delaware last Sunday, May 5.

Brazilian Chef David Hertz Uses Food to Bring about Social Change
David Hertz

David Hertz's entire adult life has been focused on food. But what interests this Jewish chef from Brazil most is using food as a tool to alleviate poverty and address social injustice.

Veteran Journalist, Author Judith Oppenheimer Dies at Age 82
Judith Oppenheimer

A former local Jewish journalist with a long history as a writer and editor, Oppenheimer was the author of a pair of acclaimed books.

Israeli Flag of Falls Road Business Desecrated by Vandals
Idan Tzameret

An Israeli flag posted outside of the Mount Washington business Kitchen Design by Idan was spraypainted last weekend.