Kushner to brief UNSC on Trump plan before Abbas visit

By James Reinl

UNITED NATIONS (AA) - U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, will brief the UN Security Council on his plan for Middle East peace this week, only days before the Palestinian president arrives in New York to address the same chamber.

Kushner will address diplomats behind-closed-doors for one hour on Thursday on the plan, which was unveiled by Trump at the White House last week, said Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve, the UN ambassador for Belgium, which holds the council’s rotating presidency this month.

“I understand that indeed he would be ready to answer questions on the plan. I think that indeed an opportunity maybe to clarify some aspects” of the proposal, the Belgian ambassador told reporters at UN headquarters on Monday.

“My hope will be that the council can be united as much as possible on this issue. But I think we all know, you know what different positions there are.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set to address the council on Feb. 11 -- a meeting that was announced after Trump released a peace plan that Palestinians say is biased in Israel’s favor and all-but dashes their hopes of ever running a country.

According to de Buytswerve, Palestinian officials are “working on” a draft resolution to put before the council in what is expected to be a rebuff to the Trump administration’s peace-making initiative.

The envoy said he had “no information” on what the text looks like.

Last week, Trump released his long-awaited plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian dispute during a White House press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but with no Palestinian envoy in the room.

The plan refers to Jerusalem as “Israel’s undivided capital” and recognizes Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank. Palestinians were offered a route to running a series of territories connected by roads and a tunnel.

“It's certainly the view of Belgium … that any solution first has to be arrived at through negotiation between the two sides, and that they have to be based on all these agreed internationally agreed parameters, including UN Security Council resolutions,” said de Buytswerve.