'Palestinian Authority is a police state,' says Kushner, 'Israel can't take the risk' of accepting PA statehood under present conditions. INN
Is this the next V’NaHaFochHu?
President Donald Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner said on Sunday that if the Palestinian Authority is unable to meet the conditions of the new Middle East peace plan he helped to craft, Israel should not take "the risk to recognize them as a state."
President Donald Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner said on Sunday that if the Palestinian Authority is unable to meet the conditions of the new Middle East peace plan he helped to craft, Israel should not take "the risk to recognize them as a state."
The plan laid out by Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, and unveiled Tuesday was warmly embraced by Israel but curtly dismissed by the Palestinian Authority along with the Arab League.
Kushner was challenged by CNN host Fareed Zakaria in a program aired Sunday to explain why demands made of the Palestinian Authority before they are given a state -- a free press, free elections, religious freedom, an independent judiciary and a reliable financial system -- did not amount to "a killer amendment."
"There is no Arab country that would meet these criteria, certainly not Saudi Arabia, Egypt" or other countries Kushner has worked with closely, Zakaria said.
Kushner replied that the Palestinian Authority amounts to "a police state... not exactly a thriving democracy."
"For the Palestinians, if they want their people to live better lives, we now have a framework to do it," he said.
"If they don't think they can uphold these standards, then I don't think we can get Israel to take the risk to recognize them as a state."
Kushner added: "The only thing more dangerous than what we have now is a failed state."
Trump unveiled the plan in a White House event attended by a smiling Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who applauded it as "a great plan for Israel... (and) a great plan for peace."
No Palestinian Authority officials were present at the unveiling.
Mahmoud Abbas, chief of the Palestinian Authority, said the plan reflected a persistent pro-Israel bias by the Trump administration and that it "will not pass."
Kushner has been criticized for what some saw as harsh language directed at the Palestinian Authority in connection with the plan's roll-out.
"If they screw up this opportunity -- which again, they have a perfect track record of missing opportunities -- if they screw this up, I think that they will have a very hard time looking the international community in the face, saying they're victims," he said Tuesday on CNN.
"This is a great deal for them. If they come to the table and negotiate, I think they can get something excellent."
Are the Palestinians Starting to Wonder What Happened to Them?
Palestinian Academic:
'We don't know whether we want peace with Israel or armed resistance'
Says 'Palestinians in Palestine' act 'mentally inhibited'; points out Palestinians in Europe, America, and Gulf are highly productive. INN
Palestinian Authority academic Dr. Amjad Abu El Ezz said in an interview on An-Najah NBC TV (PA) that although the current situation of the "Palestinians" is partly a result of the Israeli occupation, the Palestinians themselves also bear a large part of the responsibility for it, reports the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
He said that the Palestinians in Palestine act as if they are “mentally inhibited” and pointed out that Palestinians in Europe, America, and the Gulf countries are highly productive.
Dr. El Ezz also said that the Palestinian identity has been disintegrating since the Oslo Accords and that the Palestinians do not know whether they want peace with Israel or to resume armed resistance.
Will the people overthrow their leaders?
WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT IN THIS SAGA?
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