Kushner: Palestinians should give up ‘fairy tales'

By Vakkas Dogantekin

ANKARA (AA) - U.S. President Donald Trump's Senior Adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner on Tuesday said the Palestinians should accept the "full package" of the so-called peace plan offered and give up fairy tales.

Speaking to Al Jazeera following the announcement of the long-awaited proposal on Palestine and Israel by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Kushner said the detailed plan offers practicality to Palestinians and Israelis.

Kushner called the decades-long Palestinian efforts for statehood “old claims, myths, lies” and said the plan gives Palestinians an “ability to have a pathway” for a state of their own.

Soon after Trump's unveiling of the so-called peace plan in the White House, which turned into a pro-Israel rally, U.S. officials shared details of the plan as well as a “conceptual map” regarding the future of Palestine and Israel.

Dubbed "Peace to Prosperity," the content of the plan laid Trump administration's "Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People."

Netanyahu hailed the "fantastic deal," rejected by all Palestinians before its release, and thanked Trump for being the first president ever to recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, Judea Samaria, Jordan Valley, Golan Heights and other strategic areas.

He also called Trump the "greatest friend of Israel" ever in the White House.

Kushner praised Trump for his "achievement" to convince Israelis to put a four-year settlement freeze and went on to say that this the "last chance" for Palestinians to have a state and to find peace and economic prosperity.

Netanyahu, however, said it “would take a long time” for Palestinians to even start talks for a statehood bid unless they demilitarize Gaza, disarm Hamas, recognize the Jewish state and sovereignty over all areas given unilaterally by Trump to Israeli jurisdiction.

The plan unilaterally annuls previous UN resolutions on the Palestinian issue and gives Israel pretty much everything the Israelis have been demanding.

"The State of Israel and the United States do not believe the State of Israel is legally bound to provide the Palestinians with 100 percent of pre-1967 territory (a belief that is consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolution 242)," it says in one part of the plan.

Thousands of Palestinian protesters took to the streets ahead of and after Trump's formal announcement of the proposal.

"Free Palestine" hashtag also quickly became the top world trend on Twitter.