Jared Kushner To Lead Middle East Tour To Push Long-delayed Peace Plan

United States presidential adviser Jared Kushner will travel to Middle East capitals later this month in a bid to garner backing for the White House’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law is slated to visit Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, where he is expected for the first time to reveal significant details of the two-years-in-the-making proposal. Kushner reportedly will focus primarily on the economic sections of the plan that are believed to include major incentives for the Palestinians to re-engage in negotiations. While the Palestinian Authority has been boycotting American officials since Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017, the White House hopes that approval by Arab countries of the peace initiative will translate into diplomatic pressure on Ramallah to play ball. Kushner is slated to offer a teaser of the plan later this week when he holds a question and answer session on the peace process at a U.S.-sponsored summit in Poland focusing mainly on Iran. He will be joined in late February on his Mideast tour—which will not include stops in Jerusalem or Ramallah—by lead American negotiator Jason Greenblatt and U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook.