The Kushner peace plan for Israel and Palestine is back. There was a flurry of coverage last week, here and here, for example. Another take, here, which looks at statutory obstacles in the US. It includes this bit: "The plan is said to be based on four principles—freedom, respect, security, and opportunity—with one key goal being “developing infrastructure” for “tremendous growth in … the West Bank and Gaza.” The interview with Kushner suggests that the plan is primarily focused on economic integration and development, and the principles seem consistent with that focus.
"The first principle is to have freedom. We want people to be able to have the freedom of opportunity, the freedom of religion, the freedom to worship, regardless of your faith.
Respect: we want all people to have dignity and to respect each other.
Opportunity: we want people to be able to better their lives and not allow their grandfather’s conflict to hijack their children’s future.
And the final one is security."
Economics shows up twice. And later there is this comment: "The goal of resolving these borders is really to eliminate the borders. If you can eliminate borders and have peace and less fear of terror, you could have freer flow of goods, freer flow of people and that would create a lot more opportunities." Eliminate the borders. Between Israel and Palestine? A single federated state? No border with Jordan? The models Kushner mentions are Singapore and Japan and Poland. None of them seem particularly apt, unless it is all about economies. Anyway, I wonder how the plan will work in light of Trump's decisions to eviscerate aid to Palestine and to recognize Jerusaluem as the capital of Israel, etc. And the absence of even a suggestion in the interview that Gaza and West Bank will be physically linked. The principles do not seem appropriate for a peace plan for Israel and Palestine. Freedom of opportunity and Opportunity - build an economy. Freedom of Religion is a good thought, but what does it mean here? Remove controls on the Temple Mount? And in Hebron too? Security for the various national entities is something that can be helpful, at least in setting a subject. What does Respect mean in this context -- how does it help with land patterns? Get the settlers to be polite to the Palestinians?
Apparently the contents of the plan have been shared with the governments of a number of other countries. The plan involves a fair amount of money being made available to ... well, not clear to whom. Palestinians, Israelis, Egyptians, Jordanians, and perhaps Lebanese. Economic growth and opportunity are the centerpiece, I would infer, given the coverage of of the stories, which focus on getting the Gulf States to offer up large sums. Something in the billions over ten years. No doubt, economic development in Palestinian areas would be a good thing and may be helpful to reducing tensions and reducing violence. But it does not seem like it could be the center of a successful plan. There are some differences on non-economic issues that might matter -- a capital for Palestine, some disposition of claims of Palestinians to return to their lands, security for Israel, disposition of the many Israeli settlements installed on Palestinian land, security within Israel (an end to terror campaigns), etc. All tight-lipped on those sorts of points, at least in the major newspapers.
Yet, one hopes that there is some substance somewhere there, and that there will be significant progress.
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