'Let's just not say it': Jared Kushner says 'two-state' label hinders Middle East talks

Agence France-Presse
Fri 3 May 2019 05.46 BST

Jared Kushner has revealed aspects of the US peace plan for the Middle East, indicating it would pull back from longstanding mentions of a two-state solution with the Palestinians and accept Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Kushner, the son-in-law and senior adviser to President Donald Trump, is expected to present a long-awaited deal next month on behalf of the US administration, which has closely aligned itself with Israel’s rightwing.

“If you say ‘two-state’, it means one thing to the Israelis, it means one thing to the Palestinians,” Kushner said on Thursday at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “We said, ‘you know, let’s just not say it. Let’s just say, let’s work on the details of what this means’,” he said.

Kushner declined to give extensive details about the plan before its release but, asked if it would cover the final status between Israelis and Palestinians, he said: “That’s correct, we will.”

The Palestinian leadership has already said it does not accept mediation by Trump, whose evangelical Christian base is fervently pro-Israel and whose long list of actions in support of the Jewish state includes moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.

-snip-