The White House is drawing up a plan for “an enduring peace” between Israel and the Palestinians as a shift in Arab-Israeli relations, led by Saudi Arabia, stirs tentative hopes that decades of deadlock could be overcome.
Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, is drafting a potential blueprint with Jason Greenblatt, the President’s chief negotiator, and deputy national security adviser Dina Powell.
A White House official said: “The team is formulating ideas as it continues to work towards facilitating an enduring peace agreement.”
Mr Trump has called solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “the ultimate deal” and in the past 10 months Mr Kushner has held meetings across the region.
Plenty of scepticism remains, but analysts believe Mr Trump may have found a propitious moment as a new alignment of Israeli and Arab interests reshapes the Middle East.
Gilead Sher, chief negotiator for the Israelis at the Camp David summit in 2000, said Saudi Arabia and Israel were concerned about the regional ambitions of Iran and the existential threat posed by jihadist extremism.
Read the full article by Rhys Blakely at The Australian (subscription only).