White House senior adviser Jared Kushner (AP/Alex Brandon) (AP/Alex Brandon)
Jared Kushner

Kushner expressed hope the Palestinians would forgo their history of rejectionism and come to the table, instead of “screwing up” another opportunity “like they’ve screwed up every other opportunity.”

By Benjamin Kerstein, The Algemeiner

US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner — one of the primary architects of the newly-released Israeli-Palestinian peace plan — said on CNN on Tuesday that proposal was an “opening offer.”

In an interview with Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday, Kushner expressed hope the Palestinians would forgo their history of rejectionism and come to the table, instead of “screwing up” another opportunity “like they’ve screwed up every other opportunity.”

“They have a perfect track record of blowing every opportunity they’ve had in their past,” Kushner asserted, “but perhaps their leadership will read the details of [the plan], stop posturing, and do what’s best to try to make the Palestinian people’s lives better.”

“The terms are not final terms,” he said, “this is an opening offer, and if the Palestinians come and they have some adjustments, they want to move the line, they want to change one of the sentences, they want to negotiate on certain things, there’ll be flexibility.”

Asked about the fact that the only Arab countries represented at the plan’s White House unveiling ceremony on Tuesday were Oman, the UAE, and Bahrain, Kushner told Amanpour, “Israel does not have diplomatic relations with the countries that you mentioned, and the fact that they showed up today to celebrate the current Israeli prime minister agreeing to negotiate on a framework of a basis of a state is also I think a very significant achievement.”

Trump, Kushner claimed, has “unified the region around common goals and shared enemies.”

“What we’re seeing from a lot of other countries is they’re very, very thrilled that there’s finally a real effort on the table, there’s a real plan on the table, a real offer, and that President Trump was able to secure that,” he added.

The Arab states, he said, were “hopeful that the Palestinians for once will do something rational, come to the table and negotiate.”

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