Palestinians Threaten to 'Blow Up' Peace Process After Trump Refuses to Back Two-State Solution
Both sides and the mainstream media tried to give a positive spin, but there's every indication that last week's meeting between US special envoy Jared Kushner and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was just as stormy as the first time the two men got together back in June.
Abbas reportedly told Kushner that he'd work together with the Trump Administration to find a solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
But just days earlier, the Palestinian Authority (PA) had said that, behind closed doors, it would also give Kushner a firm ultimatum -- deliver Israeli concessions within 45 days, or we "blow up" your peace process.
It's not an uncommon threat for the Palestinian leadership to make.
Palestinian officials who spoke to Al-Monitor said that the ultimatum was the result of "lengthy negotiations at top PA levels, including consultations with its teams of Trump experts."
Should Kushner and his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, fail to strong-arm the Israelis back in line, the Palestinians said they would "turn to an alternative plan on which they have been working for the past two years."
The Palestinian threats came shortly after the Trump Administration broke with decades of American foreign policy by declaring it was no longer committed to the "two-state solution."
Shortly after taking office, Trump signaled that he wasn't married to any particular peace formula, and would work with both sides to find a solution that fit their needs.
"I’m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like," Trump told reporters back in February.
Last Wednesday, his State Department echoed Trump's earlier sentiment.
"We are not going to state what the outcome has to be – it has to be workable to both sides. And I think, really, that’s the best view as to not really bias one side over the other, to make sure that they can work through it," said US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert when asked if the president backed the two-state solution.
PHOTO: Palestinian demonstrators hold signs accusing Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner of being the whipped dog of his "Zionist" wife, Ivanka Trump. Photo by Flash90
Abbas reportedly told Kushner that he'd work together with the Trump Administration to find a solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
But just days earlier, the Palestinian Authority (PA) had said that, behind closed doors, it would also give Kushner a firm ultimatum -- deliver Israeli concessions within 45 days, or we "blow up" your peace process.
It's not an uncommon threat for the Palestinian leadership to make.
Palestinian officials who spoke to Al-Monitor said that the ultimatum was the result of "lengthy negotiations at top PA levels, including consultations with its teams of Trump experts."
Should Kushner and his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, fail to strong-arm the Israelis back in line, the Palestinians said they would "turn to an alternative plan on which they have been working for the past two years."
The Palestinian threats came shortly after the Trump Administration broke with decades of American foreign policy by declaring it was no longer committed to the "two-state solution."
Shortly after taking office, Trump signaled that he wasn't married to any particular peace formula, and would work with both sides to find a solution that fit their needs.
"I’m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like," Trump told reporters back in February.
Last Wednesday, his State Department echoed Trump's earlier sentiment.
"We are not going to state what the outcome has to be – it has to be workable to both sides. And I think, really, that’s the best view as to not really bias one side over the other, to make sure that they can work through it," said US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert when asked if the president backed the two-state solution.
PHOTO: Palestinian demonstrators hold signs accusing Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner of being the whipped dog of his "Zionist" wife, Ivanka Trump. Photo by Flash90
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