President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace adviser Jared Kushner came to Brussel for discussions with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker. Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, arrived at a crucial time when the US peace plan for the Middle East is in crisis. While President Trump proclaimed to have doubts regarding the plan earlier this week, Kushner pointed out that Palestinians were not ready to govern themselves.
The EU’s interest is to secure peace, stability, and political progress in the region. While the talks were held in private, the main topics were related to “the Middle East situation and other geopolitical issues,” said a commission spokesman Mina Andreeva. The US administration aims to address the problem by adding an economic component to the plan in an attempt to boost the troubled Palestinian economy. The EU understands the importance of economic progress, yet it also insists that “it must be accompanied by viable political progress that takes into account the aspirations of both the Palestinians and the Israelis,” said a commission spokesman.
Such a political component of the plan, however, remains unclear, expecting to avoid envisaging the creation of a Palestinian state. This is a significant step as it may end years of US promotion of “two-state” solution that called for the separation of the area between Jews and Palestinians. The EU still adheres to the two-state solution with Jerusalem as the capital of both states. Washington has not disclosed if it has adjusted its policy on the Middle Eastern issue in light of the recent developments, yet it is assumed to promise economic benefits in exchange of Palestinian statehood.
