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White House delegation to visit Israel, West Bank and Arab States

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The US administration is preparing to send its senior envoys to Israel and the Palestinian territories at the end of August in an effort to renew peace negotiations.

Last Friday, a White House official said that US President Donald Trump believes an “opportunity” has opened up following the “restoration of calm and the stabilised situation in Jerusalem after the recent crisis on the Temple Mount/Haram al Sharif” to continue discussions towards renewing peace talks between Israelis and the Palestinians.

The delegation will be led by Jared Kushner and will include President Trump’s envoy for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, and Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell. According to the White House, Trump has asked his delegation to focus on finding “a path to substantive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, combatting extremism [and dealing with] the situation in Gaza, including how to ease the humanitarian crisis there”.

During yesterday’s security cabinet meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will welcome [the US delegation] as always”.

A Palestinian Authority’s (PA) spokesperson said: “We are committed to peace based on the two-state solution. We informed the American administration that we are ready for peace on this basis. And we are waiting now for the American delegation to work together toward peace.”

Israel Hayom quotes a Palestinian official who claimed that “more confidence-building measures, both from Israel and from the administration in Washington” would be required to get the PA back to the negotiating table.

PA officials were reportedly upset with Kushner and Greenblatt over their handling of the recent crisis around the Temple Mount, viewing them as being too sympathetic to the views of Israel. A Palestinian official told Haaretz during the crisis that Kushner “sounded like Netanyahu’s advisers and not like fair arbiters”.

Kushner, Greenblatt and Powell will also meet leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, and Egypt.