Jared Kushner-led delegation meets Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas; says peace will take time

Ramallah: A delegation led by Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, held a meeting with the Palestinian President shortly after meeting with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The White House released a statement late Wednesday that achieving peace with the Israelis “will take time”, reports Efe news. The US delegation visiting the region was aiming to gain support from both parties in an attempt to revive the peace process under Trump’s presidency. Kushner was accompanied on his one-day visit by another of Trump’s US Middle East envoys, Jason Greenblatt. [caption id=“attachment_3670215” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Jared Kushner. Getty Images[/caption] “Kushner and Greenblatt discussed with President Mahmoud Abbas priorities for the Palestinians and potential next steps, acknowledging the need for economic opportunities for Palestinians and major investments in the Palestinian economy,” the White House statement said. “The US officials and Israeli leadership underscored that forging peace will take time and stressed the importance of doing everything possible to create an environment conducive to peacemaking,” it added. The statement was very similar to the one issued earlier by the White House after the meeting with Netanyahu, which described both meetings as “productive”. At the beginning of his presidency, Trump adopted a hard line of unconditional support for Israel, and in February he distanced himself from the policy of his three predecessors in the White House by questioning if the peace process should include the creation of a Palestinian state, the so-called “two-state solution”. However, Trump’s administration has since softened its stance, and the US President said after his meeting with Netanyahu and Abbas in May that they both were “ready to start negotiations”, and pledged to support them, without specifying what form that support would take.