“Battle at the United Nations” (43): From Kushner’s White House Memoirs

“The people are one thing in secret and another thing in public.”

Kushner continued his account of events that took place before and after the launch of the American peace plan in the Middle East, “the Deal of the Century,” in January 2020, saying: From Davos, I had originally planned to stop in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Israel. I had hoped to work with the Saudis to put the finishing touches on a statement urging the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate on the basis of our peace plan, and I needed to resolve some outstanding issues with Bibi and Gantz (in Israel).

In his memoirs Kushner described the moments when President Trump launched his Middle East peace plan, “the Deal of the Century,” and quoted Trump as saying: “Israel is taking a big step toward peace today”..... and the room erupted in applause. Kushner breathed a sigh of relief; it was finally happening, and it was a good start. I could not have been prouder to see the crowning of three years of devoted effort and careful planning – according to Kushner’s words –!

Kushner continues his description of President Trump’s words and of the Israeli Prime Minister — Netanyahu — who had come to Washington to attend the launch ceremony of the American peace initiative “the Deal of the Century”: while I watched history unfold a few yards from me — televised for the world to see — Bibi (Netanyahu) made a surprising statement, addressing President Trump: : “Mr. President, I think that over the decades, and perhaps over the centuries, we will also remember January 28, 2020, because on this day I became the first world leader to recognize Israeli sovereignty over areas in Judea and Samaria that are vital to our security and central to our heritage.” !

Kushner furrowed his brow angrily on hearing Netanyahu, saying: That was not what we negotiated. Under our plan, we would eventually recognize Israeli sovereignty over agreed-upon areas if Israel took steps to strengthen the Palestinian state within the territories we identified. The two would be contingent on each other, and it would take time to flesh out the details. Then the prime minister reiterated this point and went a step further, as Netanyahu completed his statement before President Trump by saying: “Israel will apply its laws to the Jordan Valley, to all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and to other areas identified by your plan as part of Israel which the United States has agreed to recognize as part of Israel”.!

Kushner castigated Netanyahu’s speech: the speech was out of touch with reality. It contained nothing merciful or conciliatory toward the Palestinians.! It was essentially an electoral speech for his domestic political audience, and it misrepresented our plan....!

As later became clear, Ambassador David Friedman (the US ambassador to Israel) assured Bibi (Netanyahu) that he would persuade the White House to support immediate annexation.! He told reporters that Israel “doesn’t have to wait at all” on annexations, and that the only determining factor was “how long it takes to obtain internal approvals!”

When I confronted Friedman and told him: “You know this is not what we agreed to”... and after Friedman realized he was losing the argument, he asked Kushner: “What’s the big deal?” and “Why don’t we remain ambiguous, let Bibi say what he wants and let it happen?”!

Kushner said to Friedman: You haven’t spoken to a single person from any country outside Israel... We have done so much to strengthen America’s alliance with Israel — moving its embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, withdrawing from the Iran deal, waiting a year to roll out the peace plan to accommodate Israel’s tumultuous elections. Now they want more. And Dermer (the Israeli ambassador in America) added: that if we do not support immediate annexation, Israel will not be able to trust the administration.!

While I tried to think about how to continue advancing our objective despite this setback, I took comfort from a lesson in Lawrence Wright’s account of the 1978 Camp David conference in Thirteen Days in September, one of my favorite books on Middle East peace. He describes how deep misunderstanding led to progress!

Kushner then continues his description of the period after launching the Middle East peace initiative “the Deal of the Century,” saying: I received a note saying that Avi needed to speak with me. He knew I was preparing for a speech, so I felt it was urgent. When I called him, Avi said: “I just finished the call with Dermer. The Tunisians are circulating a Security Council resolution condemning our peace plan as a violation of international law.”.

This was indeed urgent. That year Tunisia was the Arab League’s permanent representative to the United Nations Security Council. In the week after we launched the plan, the Palestinians launched a comprehensive public relations offensive against it — and they were gaining momentum at the United Nations. I told Avi: “Call the Tunisian ambassador at the White House immediately and ask him why, after all America has done for Tunisia, he is prioritizing his relationship with the Palestinians over America.” I had learned from our previous experience that delegations in the UN complex in New York were not always in sync with their leaders back home...!

I had fought and lost battles at the United Nations twice before, Kushner says. As we prepared for the third test, I knew the fate of our plan was at stake; if the UN were to condemn our efforts, it would legitimize Palestinian intransigence and effectively prevent our plan from becoming a reliable basis for peace talks, so I decided to make an emergency trip to New York to address the Security Council directly (according to Kushner)!

Avi contacted the Tunisian ambassador at the embassy in Washington, D.C. When they met at the White House, Avi expressed the United States’ concern about the resolution. The ambassador’s color drained; he apologized profusely and claimed there had been a misunderstanding. Avi requested a call between Kushner and the Tunisian prime minister, and the ambassador quickly agreed!

When the Tunisian prime minister called on February 6, 2020, Kushner had just arrived in New York and was on his way to the UN Security Council meeting, Kushner says: I expected the usual diplomatic handling about his difficult political position or his international stance. But to my great surprise, the Tunisian prime minister explained that his UN representative had gone too far.! That Tunisia would cancel the resolution, and the Tunisian diplomat would be relieved of his position!

In the same context, UN diplomatic sources revealed on 8-2-2020 that Tunisia’s decision to relieve its Security Council representative “Munsif al-Baati” came after American pressure on Tunisia because of the draft resolution circulated by al-Baati, and Indonesia’s representative on the Council rejected the American peace plan, while the Tunisian Foreign Ministry announced that the representative’s dismissal was attributed to “weak performance and lack of coordination” with it on matters it described as important!

By contrast, Agence France-Presse — citing a diplomatic source at the United Nations — reported that al-Baati’s duties had been terminated because of his position on a Palestinian draft resolution condemning the American peace plan, and the source added that al-Baati “went further than the Tunisian authorities wanted on the Middle East file, providing substantial support to the Palestinians that threatened to spoil relations between Tunisia and the United States.”!

The agency pointed out that Tunisia had unexpectedly recalled its UN representative, who did not participate in a Security Council meeting two days earlier (6-2-2020) attended by the architect of the peace plan Jared Kushner (the President’s adviser and son-in-law) — according to Agence France-Presse.

In this regard, the Tunisian Foreign Ministry said that the decision to relieve the ambassador was due to purely professional considerations related to weak performance and lack of coordination and interaction with the ministry, and this occurred during the presidency of Tunisian President Kais Saied!

When news of Tunisia’s recall of its representative broke, it caused a shock throughout the UN corridors. This development surprised everyone and at the same time demonstrated.... the progress that had been made over the past three years (Kushner and his team) ..!

Thus things are... which reminds me of a couplet that depicts reality as it is... by the famous poet Ma’ruf al-Rusafi:

“Do not be deceived by the people’s cry for the homeland .... for the people are one thing in secret and another thing in public” !

Kushner then recounts his remarks at the Security Council, saying: As the fifteen Security Council representatives sat in their seats around a large square table, they were greeted by two large documents placed everywhere: a copy of the peace plan and a PowerPoint presentation. I displayed the presentation on several large screens and began to apply the merits of our plan as if I were speaking to a company’s board of directors. My primary planner explained the irrationality of clinging to the failed approaches of the past. Since 1993 there have been nine rounds of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Each time talks collapse, Israeli settlement activity increases, and the Palestinian Authority receives more money from the international community.

I said: "For twenty years, a large part of the peace process has been performative." The United Nations adopted nearly seven hundred resolutions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet nothing changed! Why would either side have any reason to settle as long as we keep going down this road? Meanwhile, the quality of life of the people of the West Bank and Gaza deteriorated. The jihadists were manipulating the conflict to radicalize Muslim youth, spreading the false narrative that they needed to take violent action to reclaim Al-Aqsa Mosque (according to Kushner's account).

Kushner continued his statement: "I still urge playing by the old rules, but the old rules don't work." Then I briefed them on the practical elements of the new offer on the table: a realistic two-state solution that preserves Israeli security and improves the life of the Palestinian people. I reminded them that this plan was the first time Israel had given ground toward establishing a Palestinian state. After my presentation, the representatives asked me questions for more than an hour. Our discussion was collective and productive, and I left the meeting hoping I was finished.

I ended the meeting hoping I had broken through. For decades, Abbas controlled the United Nations. He was used to winning every battle he started. But it was no longer clear whether his Security Council resolution would receive the unanimous support he needed to isolate the United States, and anything less than that would mean that his position, previously impregnable at the United Nations, had begun to collapse — according to Kushner.

Shortly after the uncertainty, the Palestinians recruited Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, to carry the resolution. A draft was circulated on Saturday, February 8, giving Security Council representatives 24 hours to submit amendments — a step known in United Nations parlance as "breaking the silence." Everyone assumed we would veto the resolution.

When I read the draft, Avi and I had another idea. Instead of vetoing it, what if we "broke the silence" and submitted constructive amendments? We could turn the resolution into a positive statement about the importance of pursuing new ideas and improving the lives of the Palestinian people. This sleight of hand would transform the resolution from a condemnation of our plan into support for our general approach.

And it would force Security Council representatives to decide whether they were truly against the constructive path we were proposing. With the help of the new U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft, who succeeded Nikki Haley, we revised the new proposal over the weekend, and we called our contacts in every member state of the United Nations Security Council. By Monday, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the Dominican Republic had expressed support for our language. China, Vietnam, and Niger indicated they would abstain. If left to choose between failure and retreat, the Palestinians chose retreat. Indonesia announced it would postpone the resolution indefinitely.

We had won. We were beating the Palestinians at their own game. Abbas arrived in New York on Tuesday, February 11, intending to deliver a formal address to the Security Council after what he assumed would be another defeat for the United States. Instead of delivering a triumphant address, he gave a rambling speech to the Security Council, vehemently rejecting our proposed state as "Swiss cheese." He shocked the representatives with familiar words — in Kushner's words — threatening that if they did not act quickly, "the situation could explode at any moment!"

Kushner says in this regard, after he felt he had succeeded in the Security Council...and defeated the Palestinians...: "Everyone who tried to speak to the Palestinian leader on our behalf left frustrated and desperate. Even Arab leaders were losing confidence in Abbas. Their people were tired of a Palestinian cause tied to the past"..... This is the speech of the American mediator and the sole holder of the Middle East file....it is a complete bias toward the Israeli narrative...while the Arab leaders...chant the name of the homeland...but the reality in private....different from the public!...And the Abraham Accords are only born of long-secret backstage dealings...and have now become agreements in the interest of the signatory states...in the words of their politicians...and what is hidden...remains greater..!

To be continued