Speaking at U.S.-orchestrated Mideast convention in Warsaw, the senior Trump aide says plan will be presented after Israeli election in April ? Bahraini FM says diplomatic relations with Israel will happen ‘eventually’
WARSAW – Jared Kushner, senior aide to U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday both Israel and the Palestinians will have to compromise in the administration’s peace plan, which will be presented after the upcoming Israeli election in April.
Kushner was speaking at a closed session at a U.S.-orchestrated convention on the Middle East in Poland.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he won’t judge the plan before he sees it, and hopes the Palestinians will do the same.
Trump’s Mideast peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt also tweeted Thursday that “Netanyahu described the medical care given by Israel to thousands of Syrians who suffered from the tragic civil war in Syria. A great example of what Israel does to help the region. Imagine what can be accomplished if regional peace is achieved!”
Also on Thursday, when Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa was asked when his country would establish diplomatic contact with Israel, he said “It will happen when it will happen.”
When pressed on will this happen soon, Al Khalifa said, “Eventually.”
Over 60 foreign ministers and representatives have gathered in Warsaw to participate in a conference on the Middle East co-hosted by Poland and the U.S. State Department that was originally supposed to focus on Iran, but the title was later changed to “Promoting a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East.”
Earlier Thursday, speaking to reporters alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pompeo said “You can’t achieve stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. It’s just not possible.”
“There are malign influences in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq,” Pompeo added. “The three H’s- the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah. These are real threats.”
Netanyahu also consider it an achievement thatYemen did not object to being seated next to Netanyahu (although with some distance between their seats). The Yemeni representative also did not object to being photographed seated near Netanyahu. And Netanyahu claims that the Yemeni foreign minister actually got up from his seat and helped Netanyahu get his microphone working, after Bibi initially had some difficult starting it up. Yes, I do find that amazing. Maybe in private the Yemeni regime as asked Israel for some military assistance in reasserting its authority in the country, which is suffering from a chaotic civil war with foreign intervention, which has left the government recognized by the U.S. powerless.
Bahrain already has already given partial diplomatic recognition to Israel by allowing it to establlish a small consulate in its capital, whch issues visas to Bahrainis wishing to visit Israel. Also part of this partial recognition was the emir of Bahrain’s meeting with several Israeli diplomats at a conference sponsored by American Jewish groups in Last year. At the conference, the emir shook hands with the Israeli diplomats as well as the American Jewish leaders in attendance. In his speech to the conference, the emir said that Bahrain recognizes Israel as a legitimate independent state. He also wrote an op-ed column for the new York Times at around the same time in which he also said that Bahrain considers Israel to be a legitimate state. In the same column, he offered his sirvices as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians, of course did not not take him up on his offer.
All this amounts to de facto recognition in my view, even though full diplomatic relations on the embassy level have yet to be established