DUBAI (AA): U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is visiting the Gulf region to promote a U.S. plan for peace between the Palestinians and Israel.
Kushner, peace envoy Jason Greenblatt and special representative for Iran Brian Hook met on Monday with United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.
Talks between the two sides focused on bilateral relations and U.S. efforts to promote peace between the Palestinians and Israel, the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Additionally, they discussed ways to improve the entire region through economic investment,” the statement read.
The three U.S. officials also visited Oman, where they held talks with Sultan Qaboos bin Said on Monday.
An embassy statement said the talks dwelt on U.S.- Omani cooperation and Trump’s efforts for peacemaking between the Palestinians and Israel as well as ways to “improve the condition of the entire region through economic investment”.
According to the U.S. media, Kushner’s tour aims to brief its regional allies about Trump’s so-called “deal of the century” – a backchannel plan to reach a peace settlement between the Palestinians and Israel.
The terms of Washington’s peace plan remain vague. But according to recent speculation, Palestinian refugees will be asked to concede their right to return to historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.
– Border issue
In statements aired by the Dubai-based Sky News Arabia, Kushner said the U.S. peace plan was “very detailed”.
“[It] focuses on resolving the border issue, and if we can resolve this factor and bring peace away from intimidation, then we can guarantee people’s freedom,” he said.
“We have not been able to convince the two sides to make concessions,” he said, adding that the Trump administration “has paid efforts aimed to integration between them”.
“If we look at the entire region today, we see that there are a lot of opportunities, and great threats in return, and by bringing together the different parties we hope to find a new approach,” Kushner said.
“We have been trying to formulate a realistic and just solution to these issues that will allow people to live a better life,” he added.
Kushner said the U.S. peace plan focuses on “four core principles”.
“The first is freedom, where we want people to enjoy their rights of opportunity, religion and worship, regardless of their beliefs, as well as respect…The dignity of people should be safeguarded.”
“They should respect each other and benefit from opportunities to improve their lives without allowing conflicts to jeopardize their children’s future and security.”
