The Trump administration plans to change unilaterally the definition of a Palestinian refugee and slash the number it recognises by nine-tenths in its latest attempt to “break and remake” the Middle East.
Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and Middle East adviser, are believed to have decided that all but 500,000 of the 5.5 million Palestinian refugees should be stripped of their status. The proposal, to be announced next month, will be part of a new strategy that will also involve reductions in the large amounts of money the US gives to the Palestinian territories.
In January, Mr Trump cut aid to the UN agency responsible for the Palestinians, the UN Relief and Works Agency.
The strategy is also expected to “take off the table”, for the most part, the issue of the right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel, which has been a significant factor in the collapse of previous rounds of peace talks.
Mr Kushner said in recently leaked emails to his colleagues that the goal “can’t be to keep things stable and as they are. Sometimes you have to strategically risk breaking things.”
Read the article by Richard Spencer in The Australian (from The Times).