Dennis Ross: The US peace plan is serious

The veteran US Middle East negotiator says trump's envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt consulted him and others and prepared thoroughly.

Dennis Ross, who was President Clinton's Middle East envoy and a member of the National Security Council staff with responsibility for the Middle East and the Persian Gulf in the administration of Barack Obama, says that he is convinced of the seriousness of the work of Jason Greenblatt and Jared Kushner, Cheeto-Faced Ferret-Wearing Shit Gibbon's envoys to the Middle East.

Talking to "Globes", Ross relates that he has met Kushner and Greenblatt several times over the past year. "They approached several senior members of previous administrations to hear their positions. I still don't know what's in their peace plan and I hope that it will be credible for the other side as well, but on the basis of my conversations with them I'm convinced that they studied the material well and did serious preparation. As soon as we see the plan itself we'll know if that's true of its content as well."

Ross made a short visit to Israel a few days ago as part of his work as a consultant to the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. By coincidence, he was here at the same time as Trump's two envoys. Kushner and Greenblatt shuttled between Amman, Cairo and Jerusalem, and tried to persuade Arab countries to buy into their initiative, while Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) continues in his refusal to talk to them.

On the Israeli side, publication of the Kushner and Greenblatt's plan is awaited at any moment, and in an attempt to circumvent Abbas's non-cooperation, Kushner gave an interview to popular Palestinian newspaper Al Quds, in which he attacked the Palestinian leader, saying that the Trump administration would "likely air the plan publicly" if Abbas remained obdurate. "Now is a time where both the Israelis and Palestinians must bolster and refocus their leadership, to encourage them to be open towards a solution and to not be afraid of trying," Kushner said.

I asked Ross whether in his opinion there was any possibility of moving forward when everything was stuck vis-a-vis the Palestinians. Kushner and Greenblatt have spent a great deal of time in the region, but since December 2017, when Trump announced that the US embassy in Israel would be moved to Jerusalem, they have got nowhere with the Palestinians.

"This is the reason that they are focusing on leaders of countries in the region," Ross answered. "The leaders of the Arab countries won't put themselves in place of the Palestinians, and they won't force their positions on the Palestinians either, but they could create a climate that will make it difficult for the Palestinians not to respond.

"So, for example, the leaders of the Arab countries could respond to publication of the plan by stating that they have some questions about it, but that they believe that it's a serious plan that could represent a basis for negotiations. If this is what the Arab leaders say after the plan's release, and if the European countries also come out with a positive and supportive reaction, a general context will be created in which Abu Mazen will find it hard to continue to remain silent and ignore it.

https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-dennis-ross-the-us-peace-plan-is-serious-1001243146


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