The Middle East File

- Kushner mentioned in Chapter 14 of his memoirs about his years of service in the White House during the presidency of former President Trump 2016-2020, under the title "Tearing Up the Talking Points" of his recently published memoirs, when the Middle East file was in Kushner's hands alone..., saying:

- "While I was dealing with a torrent of fake news about the Russian investigation, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson seized the opportunity to remove me from the Middle East file. One afternoon, I received a call from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, with whom I had a productive working relationship; Tillerson had told her that I — Kushner — was out of the Middle East file, and ordered her to stop routing issues and requests through my office" — meaning Kushner's office...!

- Kushner continues in his memoirs that "rather than confront Tillerson, I thought it best to affirm my role, so I booked my first solo trip to the Middle East. On June 21, I traveled to Israel with Avi and Greenblatt to meet Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu" ...describing Netanyahu as a wartime hero, diplomat, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, and a bold defender of Israel. As the chief opponent of the Iranian deal,

- Kushner also mentions in his memoirs the Israeli prime minister at that time, Netanyahu....showing the special relationship that connected him to Netanyahu, saying:

- "I had met the Israeli prime minister many years earlier, when he spent a weekend with my family on one of his trips to the United States. At that time, he was a private citizen and was speaking around the world. My father, who had met Bibi through his support for pro-Israel causes, invited him to stay at our house in New Jersey while he was in town. Bibi stayed in my bedroom, so I came down to the lower floor, where I slept with his bodyguards" ...

- Kushner added, about Netanyahu...: "When we met in the prime minister's office on June 21, Bibi expressed his gratitude for the president's recent visit. He appreciated that I had worked to defend Israel at the United Nations during the transition period, and he felt reassured that the United States was supporting the Jewish state again after eight years of strained relations under the Obama administration. When I spoke about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Bibi thought we should delay work on that issue. He had served as prime minister for 11 years by appealing to his conservative base and opposing a Palestinian state. He said, 'This is not the right time.' He went on to explain that he did not want Israelis to think he was using peace negotiations to distract from the ongoing government investigation."

- Kushner replied: "This is a top priority for President Trump, and if we are going to work with you on Israel's many requests, we need Israel to work with us on this matter," to which Bibi reluctantly agreed."

- In contrast, Kushner said he went to meet President Abu Mazen in Ramallah after his visit to Israel to discuss the Middle East peace project, where he said:

● "While we were driving from Jerusalem to Ramallah to meet President Mahmoud Abbas, Greenblatt (the U.S. Special Representative for the Middle East) reminded me, 'Don't say we support' a two-state solution, 'because it means different things to different people'" — meaning the Palestinians — "which was good advice, and I decided to avoid the term until we defined what it means to be a state."

● Kushner continued his account of the Ramallah visit, saying that he met Palestinian President Abu Mazen, and some of his aides including: Major General Majid Faraj, and the late Saeb Erekat. After exchanging courtesies, the meeting began and I asked President Abbas whether he had made progress on the details of the initial proposal. President Abu Mazen replied: 'They are willing to take steps they have not taken with anyone else — they will be incredibly flexible on the ground. But they need to know exactly the percentage of disputed land they will get.' Kushner adds that the Palestinians wanted Kushner and his team 'to make Israel propose a detailed map. Abbas pledged that if we could get a map, they would be flexible, and everything else would be easy.' (According to Kushner's account)...

● However, unlike his boasting about Netanyahu, Kushner was unconvinced of President Abbas's willingness to discuss details; Abbas uttered the same set of diplomatic phrases he had conveyed to Trump a few weeks earlier. Abbas was a smart diplomat, tirelessly polite and expressed a desire to make progress, but he seemed unwilling to let our negotiations reach a starting point. He repeatedly said he had many new ideas and would be flexible, but then restated the same general demands Palestinians had made for decades" (according to Kushner).

● Kushner told the Palestinian president, 'I'll go back to the President (Trump); he is not a very patient man. He will ask me where we are on the deal, and I'll tell him the Israelis are engaged and constructive, but you backed away and were not willing to be flexible at all. Is that the message you want me to convey?' (According to Kushner).

● Abbas insisted that he wanted to be flexible, but the same pattern followed. I wasn't sure whether he didn't know how to make a deal, or whether he didn't want to. After I expressed my irritation, Abbas offered what I considered a realistic offer: he seemed to imply that if I didn't like the way things were going, he would hand back the keys to the West Bank and allow the United States to run things."

● I answered him — Kushner says —: 'Sure, I'll take the keys.' But I felt that Greenblatt in my accompanying delegation during the talks with the Palestinians did not want me to say that to the Palestinian president. Kushner adds that foreign policy experts on the U.S. National Security Council warned me against pushing Abbas hard, since over the years he had become an important security partner against extremist activity in the West Bank, and they feared his resignation from office" and Kushner added: "While they considered this a real and serious concern, I saw it as an opportunity, but I knew Abbas would never do it" (Kushner's description).

● It was noted that Kushner wrote about tens of billions of dollars in the West Bank that had achieved some progress with the Palestinians.. yet it is clear, according to his account, that a lot of money had been wasted.! Repeating a saying Americans use when they want to impose something on the Palestinian side while the Palestinian side does not wish to implement it... they talk about the...corruption of the Palestinian Authority, and question its transparency... This is what Kushner said in his memoirs... pointing to the Authority's corruption and its squandering of millions of dollars the Palestinian Authority received over past decades from donor countries... while simultaneously threatening that if the Palestinians insist on handing over the keys to the Americans, they will work with the United Nations and their local allies to form a temporary government, in the absence of the Palestinian Authority.. They will pump a lot of money to build the West Bank's infrastructure, develop its economy, create many jobs and establish an independent and fair judiciary within five years, draw fair borders, and hold elections — according to Kushner's memoirs — and it is clear Kushner put his words in a threatening framework... and there is nothing to indicate a so-called mediating role he played, as a total bias toward Israel appeared, and the belittling and threat to the Palestinian side (the Palestinian Authority).. that noncompliance with the settlement projects proposed by the Americans, and according to the American perspective presented by Kushner... would have its price, namely removing the Authority because it constitutes an obstacle to the American peace they want for the Palestinian people — according to Kushner.., forgetting that Netanyahu, whom he boasted about and his personal and family relationship with him as noted above, is wanted by the Israeli judicial and security agencies to face multiple corruption charges while he served as head of the Israeli government throughout that period..!

● Kushner says in his memoirs that Abbas began convinced to leave things as they were; 'we heard that Abbas often said he preferred to go to the grave a martyr rather than be a traitor.' The international community does not seem interested, so why risk changing the status quo?

●       Kushner continued: ..."Immediately after our meeting, classified information about our discussion began appearing in the press, and I understood why Abbas was afraid of showing concessions: everything leaked from his office. He had worked hard to get the entire world to stand behind the Arab Peace Initiative. If he showed flexibility toward a settlement, he would risk alienating his supporters. I began to lose faith that we would get anywhere with him. He was in a difficult position and did not have a strong incentive to make a bold change. Hoping to push past a deadlock, I continued to deal with Abbas and the Israelis. I knew failure was a possibility, but I was determined to try to succeed..- according to Kushner's account-"

●      Upon our return, I asked Jason Greenblatt to begin drafting the first iteration of the peace plan. I wanted to design a plan strong enough to preserve an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians far into the future. The plan would be based on three principles. First, all religions must have access to their holy sites in order to worship them respectfully. Second, the Palestinian people must be given an opportunity to achieve a better and more prosperous life. And third, Israel has the right to maintain its security..- according to Kushner's memoirs- !"

●      The old way seemed a sure path to failure, so I decided to do something unconventional: propose a very detailed plan and try to get the parties to respond to it. Until the parties could respond to an objective plan, it seemed to me they would continue to fight over vague concessions and hypothetical solutions, rather than come to the negotiating table and bargain over a deal that would last long after it was signed and implemented. Its initial draft was a ten-page document, but it soon changed and expanded!."

●      Kushner added: "I wanted to solicit input from the Arab leaders, who had supported the Palestinians for decades, because they lived in the region, they had to live with the consequences of what was produced, and they could help me determine whether my approach was viable. Since I planned a trip in August to visit several countries in the Middle East to brief them on our approach, Mohammed bin Salman invited me to join a previously scheduled meeting with Mohammed bin Zayed (commonly known as MBZ), the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates, at his seaside residence near the Red Sea."

●      Kushner adds in his memoirs...saying: "Over two days of constructive meetings, the leaders described the challenges and opportunities in the region. They presided over two of the region's largest economies and strongest militaries, and they had much to say, as we heard during the President's visit to Riyadh" !"

●      They reiterated that the most important issue is the threat from Iran. They told me that after Obama signed the Iran deal in 2015, the Arabs began learning Chinese because they thought China could be a better partner in the future than the United States. The UAE was among the first Muslim countries to join the war against extremism after the September 11 attacks, and many Emiratis expressed disappointment that the Obama administration did not consult their leadership before concluding the Iranian deal."

●      As for the Palestinian issue, Kushner writes in his memoirs: "When we discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they were sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, and they expressed sorrow at the situation. They were frustrated that the Palestinian leadership had failed to find a better way forward for the Palestinian people. They wanted the problem solved, whether through the framework they had set out in the Arab Peace Initiative, or through a serious proposal"...

●      And here was my surprise, Kushner continues his account of discussing the Palestinian issue with the Arab leaders: "To my surprise, our conversation turned to the relationship between Israel and the Arab world more broadly. We held an open discussion about the region's history and how the conflict arrived at its current state, which was far more nuanced and balanced than I had expected. We exchanged ideas on how to improve the relationship between Israel and the Arab world"...in a remark by Kushner indicating that the Arab leaders he met showed, regarding the Palestinian issue, a tendency to establish contact with Israel..especially, and that the most important issue is the Iranian threat to those Arab leaders, Israel and America..!

●      Kushner continues his memoirs on this matter, saying: "At one point, Mohammed bin Salman and Mohammed bin Zayed acknowledged that their countries' allies are allies of Israel, and that their countries' enemies are enemies of Israel. When I asked them candidly whether they were open to normalization, they expressed a desire to make progress on the Palestinian issue, but they did not show hostility to Israel. I asked for their advice on how to handle the problem, given Abbas's intransigence on a solution.... They suggested that if I could convince Israel to agree to a credible plan that included a Palestinian state, access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and investments to improve the lives of the Palestinian people, that could change the dynamics. And they indicated that if the Palestinians rejected the plan, they would be more open."

●      Kushner concludes his talks with the Arab leaders in his memoirs: "Before we left, Mohammed bin Zayed made another remark: he said that the United States usually sends three types of people to practice diplomacy. The first: people who fell asleep during meetings; the second: people who read talking points without being able to speak; and the third: people who came and tried to persuade them to do things not in their interest.!.... He noted that I was different. I was the first person to come to ask questions, and to really try to understand their perspectives. He thought we would make peace in the region"....."I was honored by Mohammed bin Zayed's remark, and I never forgot his words. After our visit"...(according to Kushner's memoirs).."

●      Kushner concludes about the outcomes of his meetings with the Arab leaders...."I left Saudi Arabia encouraged. I became aware of how diplomatic conversations are usually conducted: the two sides sit across from each other, reading from notecards handed to them by their professional staff. But this was different. We tore up the talking points and got into a real discussion. The meeting clarified why it would be so important to speak directly to the leaders of these countries: they were the ones with the authority to step away from entrenched talking points, and make the hard decisions on behalf of their countries." He continued: "We also helped develop mutual understanding quickly. In the Arab world, politics is a family business, where ruling family members govern for generations. As the President's son-in-law and a former CEO of a family company, I represented something they found familiar and reassuring. They knew that when I spoke, I did so as an extension of the President in a way few administration officials could"..!

●      "We traveled from Saudi Arabia to Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Israel, listening to the leaders and gauging their reactions to our approach to a peace agreement. Meetings with Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, and King Abdullah II of Jordan confirmed my sense that the Arab leaders were open to new ideas about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that the most important issue for them. It was expanding Muslim access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Arab leaders expressed appreciation for President Trump's larger-than-life personality, his unconventional style, toughness in dealing with Iran, and the fact that he was interested in working with them to solve problems more than lecturing them, as previous diplomats in Washington had done."

●      To be continued….What Kushner wrote in his memoirs about "the file of moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing it as the eternal capital of Israel" … which toppled U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the time by Kushner and his team..!"