Meeting 36-year-old Jared Kushner in Ramallah June 21, Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmourd Abbas was “very disappointed,” saying Kushner seemed biased toward Israel. Abbas didn’t listen to Kushner’s request from his father-in-law President Donald Trump to put together both sides’ demands to eventually work on bridging proposals. Unlike past peace discussions, Kushner got down to brass tacks too soon, asking Abbas to put down his demands for an independent Palestinian state. Past diplomats bent over backwards, promising Palestinians unrealistic concessions in the peace process. Abbas knows firsthand what happened when former President George W. Bush broke off peacemaking with the late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat when it became clear after Sept. 11 that Palestinians routinely engaged in terrorism to protest Israeli occupation in Palestinian territories.
Eight years under Bush after Sept. 11 watched State Department policy turn decisively toward Israel to combat the worst attack on the U.S. homeland since Pearl Harbor. Bush set his counter-terrorism policy very clearly: The U.S. would no longer deal with any country, group or entity practicing terrorism as a policy to advance its political agenda. Bush saw first hand the evils of terrorism on Sept. 11, setting a new U.S. policy refusing to deal with any group practicing terrorism to advance national objectives. Kushner’s experienced firsthand a Palestinian youth stab and kill an Israel policewoman in Jerusalem, demonstrating, once again, that Palestinians practice terror to advance their political agenda of destroying Israel. Calling the meeting tense with Kushner, Palestinians haven’t caught up to a new Mideast policy under Trump: A return to Bush-43’s counter-terrorism policy.
When Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Feb. 15 in the Oval Office, the president created a stir stating that he could accept a one or two-state solution. Generations of U.S. presidents, until Bush-43, operated on the premise of Israel making land concessions in exchange for peace. Former President Jimmy Carter practically stood on his head to get Israel to give back the Sinai Peninsula, territory seized as spoils of the 1967 Six-Day-War. While Carter got his way at the time, subsequent generations of U.S. presidents got nowhere, watching a series of Palestinian terrorist wars called intifadas or uprisings. But once Osama bin Laden flew jetliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, all best were off when it came to accepting Palestinian terrorism. Kushner watched firsthand as Palestinians terrorists struck an Israeli policewoman in the heart of Jerusalem.
Complaining about what looked liked biased treatment, Abbas is about to find out that the Trump doctrine doesn’t deviate much from Bush-43. Practicing terrorism to exact concessions or advance as political agenda is no longer acceptable. “They sounded like Netanyahu’s advisers and no like fair arbiters,” a Palestinian official told the daily newspaper Harretz. “They started presenting Netanyahu’s issues and then were asked to hear from them clear stances regarding core issues of the conflict,” said Harretz, explaining precisely what Trump wanted: For both sides to list their peace demands. Abbas doesn’t like dealing with Kushner because he’s Jewish, not realizing he has zero leverage to dictate to the Trump White House what’s acceptable. “This is an opportunity to pursue our common goals of security, prosperity and peace,” said Netanyahu showing an openness to dialogue.
Sending a Jewish delegation to open up peace dialogue including Kushner, Amb. David Friedman and envoy Jason Friedman irked Palestinians seeing the deck stacked against them. Trump’s logic involves having the most knowledgeable participants regardless of religion. If Palestinians can’t accept a Jewish delegation, then they’re not going to pursue an independent state, at least not under Trump’s watch. Abbas doesn’t like the fact that Trump continues the Bush-43 policy of not dealing with terrorists. Bush-43 broke off peace talks with the laste PLO founder Yasser Arafat because he practiced terror, regardless of the reasons, to advance his political agenda. Abbas thought he had an ally with former President Barack Obama, whose efforts headed by former Secretary of State John Kerry were rebuffed by Abbas in 2014. Peace talks broke off July 20, 2014 with Abbas because he can’t speak for Gaza-based Hamas.
Abbas was “very disappointed” because he’s not getting the same kind of promises or concessions from the U.S. delegation this time around. Dealing with Kushner would be the easiest opportunity for Abbas to get serious about an independents state. But just like the failure in 2014, Abbas controls only half the Palestinian population making a peace deal possible with 50% of the Palestinian population. Until and unless Hamas and the PLO resolve their differences, the U.S. has no peace partner with whom to negotiate. Trump expressed to Netanyahu Feb. 14 and Abbas in Ramallah May 23 that peace was his highest priority but only if both sides wanted it. “Both President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu assured me they are ready to reach for peace, Trump said last February. Abbas’s complaint about Kushner shows little has changed.
