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Trump to start peace talks within a month

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US President Donald Trump is set to unveil an Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative within a month, according to the London based Arabic newspaper Al Hayat.

Al Hayat reported on a briefing by a White House official who said the administration planned to work on a series of small incremental agreements before talking about arrangements for a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Details of the plan are still being worked out but it is likely to be time limited and involve separate talks on final status issues that will be concluded via individual deals on refugees, borders, security and Jerusalem. This seems to be a departure from previous rounds of talks where final status issues were part of a package and nothing was agreed until everything was agreed.

On Tuesday, a senior White House official briefed journalists aboard Air Force One, en route to Italy, and explained that the US was working on building strong relationships between Israel and its Arab neighbours ahead of agreeing on a common set of principles that would build momentum towards an Israeli-Palestinian deal.

The Al Hayat report seems to corroborate a story in the Israeli media, in which Jared Kushner is said to have told Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog, before the President’s Israel museum speech, that the White House intends to move quickly to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Jason Greenblatt, President Trump’s special envoy for international negotiations, flew straight back to Israel after accompanying the President on his visit to Rome. Greenblatt will hold meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to  build on the progress made in the respective meetings the US President held with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit earlier this week.