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WH: ‘Opportunity for Peace’ after Temple Mount Crisis

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, is expected to return to the Middle East region later this month in a continued effort to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the White House said on Friday.

Trump believes that the restoration of calm in Jerusalem after the recent Temple Mount crisis “has created an opportunity to continue discussions and the pursuit of peace that began early in his administration,” a senior White House official said.

Kushner will be joined by Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt and Deputy National Security Advisor Dina Powell. The U.S. negotiation team will be meeting with leaders from Israel, Palestinian Authority, and Gulf states – Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

“The President has asked that these discussions focus on the path to substantive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, combatting extremism, the situation in Gaza, including how to ease the humanitarian crisis there, strengthening our relations with regional partners and the economic steps that can be taken both now and after a peace deal is signed to ensure security, stability and prosperity for the region,” the White House official said.

The Trump administration did not address what steps the two sides have been asked to take to restore the trust and bring them to the negotiations table, but according to the WH official,  “All parties need to engage in creating an environment conducive to peace-making while affording the negotiators and facilitators the time and space they need to reach a deal.”

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