BICOM

The US President’s Senior Advisor told a group of congressional interns that he is unsure whether the Trump administration can offer anything “unique” to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during an off the record conversation, it has emerged.

Jared Kushner’s comments were recorded by one of the interns present and subsequently leaked to Wired, which published Kushner’s entire answer to a question on how he plans to negotiate peace between Israel and the Palestinians and how he plans to succeed where others have failed.

Kushner said that in his extensive research he’s learned that “not a whole lot has been accomplished over the last 40 or 50 years” and that he’s spoken to “a lot of people,” which has taught him that “this is a very emotionally charged situation”.

He then questioned whether the Trump administration had anything unique to add in its approach and raised the possibility that there might be no solution to the conflict.

Kushner said: “So, what do we offer that’s unique? I don’t know … I’m sure everyone that’s tried this has been unique in some ways, but again we’re trying to follow very logically. We’re thinking about what the right end state is, and we’re trying to work with the parties very quietly to see if there’s a solution.”

“And,” he went on, “there may be no solution, but it’s one of the problem sets that the President asked us to focus on. So we’re going to focus on it and try to come to the right conclusion in the near future”.

However, Kushner did detail two achievements of the administration due to the trust they have created between the sides. The first is a water agreement between Israel, the PA and Jordan and the second was the administration’s handling of the recent crisis over the Temple Mount.

Former American Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said on Army Radio this morning that it would be incorrect to take Kushner’s words as reflecting official US policy and that the administration is still keen to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, which US President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to as the “ultimate deal”.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is reportedly angry with Kushner over his handling of the recent crisis over the Temple Mount. A Palestinian official told Haaretz that during their discussions, Kushner “sounded like Netanyahu’s advisers and not like fair arbiters” and that they were “greatly disappointed” after the meeting.