The US President Donald Trump and his Middle East advisors have begun to formulate the basic frameworks of a renewed peace initiative to the Israel-Palestinian conflict according to a report in the New York Times.
The report states that the initiative is expected to differ from past US peace pushes as Trump seeks to achieve what he has repeatedly described as the “ultimate deal.”
Since entering the White House in January Trump has dispatched his main advisors Jason Greenblatt—along with his other special Middle East advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner—to the region to acquaint themselves with the complexities of the conflict shuttling between private meetings with top regional leaders to lay the groundwork for ending the seemingly intractable conflict.
According to White House officials Trump and his team are now preparing to announce concrete steps they intend to take in a bid to achieve “what has eluded all his predecessors.”
While Trump has never explicitly endorsed the two-state solution that has served as the cornerstone of US policy since the inception of the conflict the new plan is expected to address settlements and the future of Occupied Jerusalem and not necessarily stray too far from traditional US policies.
Nevertheless Greenblatt insisted that while Washington aspires to achieve peace an agreement would not be forced on the two warring parties.
“We have spent a lot of time listening to and engaging with the Israelis Palestinians and key regional leaders over the past few months to help reach an enduring peace deal” said Greenblatt.
“We are not going to put an artificial timeline on the development or presentation of any specific ideas and will also never impose a deal. Our goal is to facilitate not dictate a lasting peace agreement to improve the lives of Israelis and Palestinians and security across the region.”
In February Trump said during a joint press conference in Washington with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would not be wedding his administration to conventional policies but would be pursuing new ideas as long as both the Israelis and Palestinians could agree.
“I’m looking at two-state and one state. And I like the one that both parties like” Trump said when asked whether he had abandoned the notion of a two-state solution.
The core four-member team drafting the plan includes Kushner Greenblatt Dina H. Powell a deputy national security adviser and David M. Friedman the ambassador to Israel. They are consulting with Donald Blome the consul general in Jerusalem and others from the State Department and National Security Council. Officials said the effort may take until early next year.
According to the New York Times Trump and his team make no bones about being pro-Israel. The president has boasted of being Israel’s “biggest friend” and Kushner Greenblatt and Friedman are all Orthodox Jews with ties to Israel.
