Agreement or fiasco? Kushner (and Trump) Israeli-Palestinian peace plan

On 25 and 26 June, the Manama Conference will be held, where the United States will present  its Middle East peace plan. The Palestinians are absent, boycotting an event that has seen them relegated to the margins. Perplexity of many observers in the face of an economic rather than a political project. Behind which there would be the idea of ​​an axis reinforced in an anti-Iranian key.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - The agreement or fiasco of the century? On the eve of the Manama Conference, in the capital of Bahrain, scheduled for 25 and 26 June, during which the mysterious "peace plan" of the Trump administration between Israel and Palestine will be unveiled, doubts  multiply about the appointment.

It has already been boycotted by the Palestinian front and is centered, according to many analysts and experts, on an economic factor, leaving aside the historical and political aspects that have led to ever deeper divisions over the years.

Behind the so-called Middle East peace plan,  two years in the making, renamed the "agreement of the century" by the White House, is Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, and other personalities who - in reality - have little experience in the subject of regional diplomacy. An Orthodox Jew with strong personal and religious ties to Israel, Kushner was chosen by the president first of all because of the blood bond (according to the criterion of belonging to a clan) that unites them.

A personal story and a political path that certainly does not make it equidistant in a perspective of encounter and confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians. Among his closest collaborators in these two years of work and proclamations, characterized by various shifts in the context of a process that is mostly obscure in terms of manner and content, we find Jason Greenblatt and David Friedman, both with deep ties to the radical Orthodox Jewish world.

Kushner, Greenblatt and Friedman - all without relevant diplomatic experience - are the three pillars on which Trump founded the bases for his version of the resolution of the Palestinian conflict. And it is no wonder that top executives in Ramallah have already rejected the invitation, branding any Palestinian who takes part - even personally - in the Bahrain conference as a "traitor".

More than one observer have pointed to the trio’s inability to understand the perspective and historical claims of the Palestinians. Moreover, the negotiations and the work promoted throughout this time are certainly not those of a "neutral mediator" who tries to bring the two sides in opposition together, on the contrary, they seem to have  hinged everything on the Israeli perspective and cause.

The contents of the plan of the "century"  should be unveiled in the coming days. Nonetheless, it is believed to be almost exclusively economic in nature, rather than political. Leaving the deep reasons for the conflict unresolved. Moreover, the conflict has recently sharpened following some controversial decisions of the Trump administration including the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of the embassy, ​​along with backing for the Israeli claim to sovereignty over the disputed Golan region . And again, the end of US funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) and the words of the American ambassador to Israel David M. Friedman, who said Israel has the right to annex a part "but maybe not all" of the West Bank.

Those listed above are steps that have in fact endorsed the policy promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an iron ally of Trump who, in recent years, has been able to forge links (from behind the scenes) with the young leaders of the Gulf. A new axis that leads to the Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman and to his Emirati counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed.

Here, "the agreement of the century" trumpeted by Trump seems in reality to hide a renewed US-led coalition against Iran, which however risks annihilating the aspirations of the Palestinians in exchange for little money and exacerbating the religious and traditionalist wing of the Arab world.