The June 21 meeting at Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah between Palestinian representatives and President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoys, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, left the hosts stunned. “And that’s putting it mildly,” a top Palestinian source told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity.
Their biggest disappointment was Greenblatt, who had previously seemed to them devoid of prejudice and also efficient and determined. They had gotten the impression at the beginning of his mission that he was not easily swayed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the source said. He added, however, the combination of Greenblatt and Kushner does not bode well for the Palestinians. On certain issues, the two sounded as if they were parroting Netanyahu, for instance on the subject of PA payments to the families of jailed Palestinians, including terrorists, and the incitement that Israel accuses the Palestinians of fostering in schools and the media.
According to the source, things occasionally became so heated during the approximately two-hour meeting that it seemed on the verge of a blowup. Kushner surprised the Palestinians when he hinted that there was no guarantee that Trump would insist on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations if he concluded that a diplomatic breakthrough was not a possibility. Kushner also said that Trump was waiting for the envoys’ appraisal based on their meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah. “We felt that they were planning to lay the blame on us and not on Netanyahu, who is still building [settlements in the West Bank] and thumbing his nose at everyone, as if we are the obstacle and Netanyahu is innocent of any blame or recalcitrance,” said the source.
Up until now, every disappointment and frustration the Palestinians have encountered since Trump took office have only spurred them to seek creative and effective solutions. That was the case when they thwarted the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem despite Trump’s repeated pledge to do so, when they arranged a White House meeting for President Mahmoud Abbas and when they talked the US administration into warning Israel against continued construction in the settlements.
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