‘Peace plan won’t be made public until after Shavuot’

Ben Ariel

Greenblatt says peace plan will deal with all core issues, calls on PA leadership to stop rejecting it before seeing it.

Jason Greenblatt

Jason Greenblatt, the US envoy for international negotiations, told Fox News in an interview on the weekend that the so-called “Deal of the Century”, as the Trump administration’s peace plan has come to be known, will not be released until at least after Ramadan, the formation of a new Israeli government and the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which ends on the evening of June 10.

Greenblatt, who has been working on the peace plan with President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman for the last two years, was asked in the interview about the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership’s decision to dismiss the deal before even seeing it.

Greenblatt maintained that he was “hopeful for the sake of the Palestinian people that they get a chance to see it.”

“It’s terribly frustrating for ordinary Palestinians. I meet with them frequently, and this is the message they tell me. They understand they may not like aspects of the plan but are upset that their leaders are saying they won’t even take a look at it. I feel terrible for the Palestinian people,” he told Fox News.

Despite the negative echo from its leadership, Greenblatt said he hoped the Palestinian Authority would be engaged in a professional and constructive way, “and help us cross the finish line.”

“But of course it is their choice to continue on the road of rejection at the expense of everyday Palestinians,” he added. “If they fail to engage constructively and professionally to see if a deal can be reached then shame on them.”

Greenblatt said the plan would deal with all the core issues, and despite what critics have said without even having seen it, it covers both political and economic fronts.

Greenblatt said it’s “false to say that it’s only an economic plan. It’s both political and economic. Once everyone has read and given their thoughts on it, there is still a long way to go before a final signing agreement, and that will be up to the parties themselves to negotiate.”

He also stressed, “One thing we won’t do, the Trump administration won’t compromise on Israel’s security.”