Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said he was "ready to work" with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in a rare interview with Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds Sunday.
In the interview, Kushner said that if he could deliver a direct message to the Palestinian people it would be that "you deserve to have a bright future. … There have been countless mistakes and missed opportunities over the years, and you, the Palestinian people, have paid the price."
He pleaded with the Palestinian people to reject the boycott their leaders have imposed on the U.S. as peace broker, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and "show your leadership that you support efforts to achieve peace. … Don't let your leadership reject a plan they haven't even seen."
The Palestinians were outraged by Trump's Dec. 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, seeking parts of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state under any peace agreement. The subsequent relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem in May cemented the Palestinian opposition to engaging with the U.S. as peace mediators, arguing that it was clearly biased in Israel's favor.
"A lot has happened in the world since [the Israeli-Palestinian] conflict began decades ago," Kushner said in a message to the Palestinian people. "The world has moved forward while you have been left behind. Don't allow your grandfather's conflict to determine your children's future."
Kushner, who has taken the lead on Trump's Middle East peace plan, said he did not "wish to talk about the details" of the peace plan he was working on, but noted it would be ready "soon."
Kushner's remarks to Al-Quds, in what the paper billed as his first newspaper interview on the administration's Middle East initiative, highlighted the Trump administration's attempts to deliver a message directly to the Palestinian people, when their leaders have refused to meet with the U.S. team.
While Kushner, who was in Israel over the weekend, admitted the U.S. had not reached out to Abbas to see if he would agree to meet during this trip, he insisted that "if President Abbas is willing to come back to the table, we are ready to engage; if he is not, we will likely air the plan publicly."
The interview was published after the White House confirmed Kushner and Trump's Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt met on Saturday in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman "to continue their discussions that began on Friday."
Kushner and Greenblatt's trip to Jerusalem followed a regional tour that included Jordan, Egypt and Qatar. They also held talks in Saudi Arabia, which does not recognize Israel but shares its enmity toward Iran.
Asked by the paper what points Arab leaders had emphasized when discussing a possible Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, Kushner said, "They conveyed they want to see a Palestinian State with a capital in east Jerusalem. They want a deal where the Palestinian people can live in peace and be afforded the same economic opportunities as the citizens of their own countries. They want to see a deal that respects the dignity of the Palestinians and brings about a realistic solution to the issues that have been debated for decades. They all insist that Al-Aqsa mosque remain open to all Muslims who wish to worship."
Kushner declined to say whether the U.S. peace plan would accommodate the Arab leaders' requests, but said he believed that for a deal to be made, "both parties will gain more than they give and feel confident that the lives of their people will be better off decades from now because of the compromises they make."
"It will be up to the leadership and the people of both sides to determine what is an acceptable compromise in exchange for significant gains," he said.
Kushner emphasized the vast regional economic benefits of a deal, saying the conflict "has held the whole region back, and there is so much untapped potential that can be released if peace is achieved."
He noted that while the deal itself would be between Israel and the Palestinians, the U.S. team believed it could attract "very significant investments in infrastructure from the public and private sectors to make the whole region more connected and to stimulate the economies of the future."
Asked by Al-Quds Editor-in-Chief Walid Abu-Zalaf how this plan differed from previous proposals, Kushner said he and his team had "done a lot of listening and have spent our time focusing on the people and trying to determine what they actually want."
He said that, at the end of the day, he believed the Palestinians "are less invested in the politicians' talking points than they are in seeing how a deal will give them and their future generations new opportunities, more and better-paying jobs and prospects for a better life. Each of the political issues are very controversial, and there are people on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides who will object to any compromise. We think that the deal should be looked at by both sides as a package and both sides should ask themselves – are we better off with what we are getting in exchange for what we are giving?"
Challenged on the assertion by Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh that the American plan was "a waste of time and is destined to fail," Kushner said, "I think the Palestinian leadership is saying those things because they are scared we will release our peace plan and the Palestinian people will actually like it because it will lead to new opportunities for them to have a much better life."
He said he had not been in direct contact with Abbas, but that intermediaries had passed on messages.
On Saturday, Rudeineh said Trump's team was headed toward a dead end because they are not engaging the Palestinians or their positions.
The U.S. should "abandon the illusion that creating false facts and falsifying history are going to help it sell those illusions," Rudeineh said.
Kushner was critical of Abbas in his remarks, saying the Palestinian leader "says that he is committed to peace, and I have no reason not to believe him," but questioned whether Abbas had either the ability or willingness to "lean into finishing a deal."
"He has his talking points, which have not changed in the last 25 years," Kushner said, noting no peace deal had been achieved in that time.
According to Kushner, "The global community is getting frustrated with Palestinian leadership and not seeing many actions that are constructive toward achieving peace. There are a lot of sharp statements and condemnations, but no ideas or efforts with prospects of success. Those who are more skeptical say President Abbas is only focused on his political survival and cementing a legacy of not having compromised than on bettering the lives of the Palestinian people."
Calling the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip "very sad," the U.S. envoy noted things had begun to deteriorate there "long before President Trump came into office, but nonetheless, we must try and make improvements. The level of desperation and despair shows the worst-case scenario of what happens when problems are left unresolved and allowed to linger. The people of Gaza are hostages to bad leadership. Their economy has spiraled downward because of the inability to have connectivity with the world. As long as there are rockets being fired and tunnels being dug, there will be a choke hold on resources allowed to enter. It's a vicious cycle. I think the only path for the people of Gaza is to encourage the leadership to aim for a true cease-fire that gives Israel and Egypt the confidence to start allowing more commerce and goods to flow to Gaza."
He said Gaza had become ungovernable as a result of multiple wars, a terrorist government and political dysfunction, which he said had been "greatly exacerbated" by the PA's salary cuts
"It's time for the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to stop using the people of Gaza as pawns. The narrative of victimhood may feel good for the moment and help you grab headlines but it doesn't do anything to improve lives."
The plan is expected to propose detailed solutions to core issues in the dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians, such as borders, the future of Israeli settlements, the fate of Palestinian refugees and security.
While the Trump administration has said it would support a two-state solution if both sides agreed to it, Kushner would not commit to a two-state solution in the interview. He said that "the traditional core issues are essential, and we focus on them extensively with a strong appreciation of the historic differences between the two sides. We are committed to finding a package of solutions that both sides can live with. Simply resolving core issues without creating a pathway to a better life will not lead to a durable solution."
