TeamTrump, charged with finding an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that has eluded generations of would-be peacemakers, has wrapped up its visit to Israel in dramatic style by providing an interview by the Palestinian daily Al-Quds with team-leader Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law. Just as the heavy roller smooths the roadway before the surface is laid, the wide-ranging interview and meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other officials was clearly aimed at preparing for the plan’s roll-out. The Kushner interview was replete with carrot-and-stick, lauding Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as “wanting peace” but offering strong criticism for Abbas’ blanket rejection of the Trump proposal even before it has been unveiled. Some opined that the interview was intended to let the Palestinian street to know what Abbas has kept from them. Kushner chided Abbas for having a 25-year old list of talking points that has not changed in all that time and mockingly adding that he also has nothing to show for it. He bluntly suggested that Abbas lacked what it takes to make the “leap” it will require to make peace. Abbas responded through Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat who charged the American administration with trying to buy the allegiance of Arab states to back Washington’s diktats. He also accused the Trump White House of using the funding it no longer directs toward the United Nations Relief Works Agency to pay-off the Arab states.
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