Jared Kushner, the special advisor to US President Donald Trump, stated that the conclusion of peace agreements between Israel and other Gulf Arab countries, such as those reached with the UAE, is inevitable, and that it is only a matter of time.
Kouchner said in an exclusive interview with Newsweek magazine , American ( Newsweek , ) that many countries watching it closely to see how it would be the reaction to such a move.
He added, "The new generation in the region is very enthusiastic (for these developments), and some of the elderly are still nostalgic for the past and do not want to take any risks, but the reality is that most of these countries want their economy to develop, and they realize that by refraining from this they are being driven behind Iran and its desire for a chaotic and fractured Middle East. "
According to Newsweek, Donald Trump's visit to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, immediately after assuming the US presidency in 2016, was not the only one that moved the stagnant waters in the Middle East.
The only hurdle is over
In previous interviews with the same magazine, Kushner said he and President Trump believed that most of the Arab world had passed the stage in which the only major obstacle to achieving peace between Israel and the Arabs was "settling the Palestinian issue and ending Israel's control over the West Bank."
The Trump administration’s first big step to amend the terms of any deal in the Middle East was to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, in defiance of fears of inflaming anger on the "Arab street."
From Kushner's point of view - who Newsweek describes as being a key mediator in the Israel-UAE agreement - "the common factor among all leaders in Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates or Qatar is that they all want to see the Palestinian people live a better life."
More pessimistic
But he returns to claim that the people have become more pessimistic about the ability of the Palestinian leadership to make any final agreement move forward.
In his answer to Newsweek's question about whether the agreement that Israel concluded with the UAE granted the United States and Tel Aviv influence over the Palestinian Authority to push it to the negotiating table, Kushner said that he does not see a need to use the word "influence", but rather prefers to use the word "weight."
Kushner stressed that under the peace plan proposed by the US administration last year, the Palestinians now have everything they asked for. All Muslims can pray in it, as they wanted to give their people an economic opportunity. "
Newsweek commented on Kushner’s speech on this particular point, saying that it is clear that Palestinian leaders do not agree at all with this description of the US official. The Palestinian Authority has rejected the Trump-Kushner peace plan as a failed initiative for several reasons, including that it does not give the Palestinians control over their security or their borders. , Two of the basic features of the state.
Pragmatic Realistic Club
The magazine asked Trump's special advisor and son-in-law, saying: How can the normalization agreement between Israel and the UAE bring about a change in the dynamics of the Middle East? He replied that what is happening now in the region is "a very clear division between countries that I call the pragmatic realistic club, which wish to be part of the process, and these are countries whose people focus on economic empowerment, tolerance and security."
He added, "Then there is the most Islamic camp (...) that is trying to pour oil on the fire of old conflicts in order to preserve instability in the region, and most countries choose progress."
And on whether Saudi Arabia and Bahrain will follow the example of the UAE in normalizing it with Israel, the American normalization mediator believes that this is "inevitable", and it is only "a matter of time."
As for when the Emiratis and the Israelis became involved in the negotiations that ended with the normalization of relations between them, Kushner revealed that they began about a year and a half ago.
The official considered that the talks took some time, as they were interspersed with the Israeli elections and the outbreak of the new Corona virus, and Israel did not have a government at the time.
Iran's interest in chaos
In response to a question about how Iranians view these developments, Kushner said that Iran is growing and thriving by creating divisions in every country in the Middle East by planting the seeds of chaos.
He pointed out that Iran is strongly present in Lebanon and Yemen, which led to the failure of the governments of the two countries, and that its strong presence in Syria "caused a disaster."
He added that Iran also has a strong presence in Iraq, but it has shrunk now.
The US official claimed that Iran has weakened greatly now after Trump assumed power in the United States, noting that Tehran’s oil exports reached zero, after it was exporting 2.6 million barrels per day.
He said that Iran no longer sends much money to the movements that are fighting by proxy for it in the four Arab countries mentioned above, adding that it suffers from many problems.
As long as Iran continues to chant "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," and as long as it funds "terrorism" and seeks to undermine stability through nuclear weapons, it will make its people pay for its actions, according to Kushner.