The Trump administration’s much-touted peace plan may include investments of tens of billions of dollars to the Palestinians and other countries in the region, according to a report Wednesday.
The New York Times, citing unidentified analysts with knowledge of the matter, said the funds would include around $25 billion for the West Bank and Gaza and another $40 billion for Israeli neighbors including Egypt, Jordan and possibly Lebanon.
The paper noted that other sources who had spoken to US President Donald Trump’s adviser Jared Kushner said the figures were not necessarily accurate, but confirmed that the investments would be in the tens of billions.
While the US would contribute part of the funds in question, the report said Kushner planned for most of the contributions to come from the region’s countries.
Kushner and US Middle East peace envoy Jason Greenblatt are currently in the region and have met with leaders in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Turkey to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. According to the Times, they are also set to visit Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the coming days.
Two sources in the Gulf told Reuters that Kushner’s plan indeed appeared to focus on economic incentives instead of a land-for-peace arrangement.
One source told the news agency that Kushner appeared to have ignored Arab leaders’ demands that a peace initiative must address settlements, the rights of Palestinian refugees and Jerusalem.
Another said Kushner was deferring many of the details of his proposal for a later date. “The Americans are still in the process of presenting various ideas and scenarios but don’t appear to have arrived at final parameters of a plan,” he said. READ MORE
