President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East peace adviser Jared Kushner will hold talks with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Tuesday.
Kushner will travel to Brussels from London, where his father-in-law is making a state visit, and the trip comes with international hopes for a US peace plan for the Middle East running low.
« The president will meet Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the president of the United States of America, Donald Trump. They will discuss the Middle East situation and other geopolitical issues, » commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva told reporters.
Trump, whose administration has staunchly backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, acknowledged doubts about the plan himself on Monday, while Kushner suggested Palestinians weren’t ready to govern themselves.
The US is to lay out an economic component of the plan, which has been spearheaded by Kushner, on June 25 and 26 in Bahrain, where Gulf Arab states are expected to make pledges to boost the troubled Palestinian economy.
But it is not clear when the political aspects of the plan — which are expected to avoid calling for the creation of a Palestinian state — will be unveiled.
Abandoning the call for a Palestinian state would end years of US support for the so-called « two-state » solution, which envisages separate homelands for Jews and Palestinians.
The EU is still firmly behind the two-state solution with Jerusalem as capital of both states — in contrast to Washington, which has recognised the city as Israel’s capital.
