US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, outlined the political aspect of the long-awaited US peace plan, saying in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that it would be “realistic” and could end the Arab-Israeli conflict and create a better life and a better future for both, Israelis and Palestinians.
Greenblatt said the plan, the announcement of which will be scheduled by Trump, does not deal with the two-state solution and focuses on issues such as resolving the situation in Gaza and dealing with factions such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He also said it rejects previous US solutions on settlements, refugees, and Jerusalem.
“We believe that the Palestinian people will realize the tremendous future this plan can offer. It is no secret. The issues between Palestinians and Israelis are difficult and challenging,” he said. “But the Palestinian leadership will have to take responsibility and face the problems.”
When asked about the two-state solution, the US envoy said the peace plan did not mention this term.
“The use of this term leads to nothing,” he noted, adding that a conflict of such complexity could not be resolved with a two-word slogan.
He said that when the concerned parties would be informed of the political plan, they would understand how to get out of this conflict successfully.
“But this will take a lot of hard work,” he emphasized.
Asked about the fate of illegal settlements, which are built on territories that are supposed to be part of an independent Palestinian state, Greenblatt stressed that he rejected the “biased” settlement term, noting that he preferred to call them “neighborhoods or cities.”
“The word ‘settlement’ is a derogatory term that is used in a biased way to put the finger on one side of a conflict. As to how this will be resolved, it will be clarified in the political plan,” he underlined.
