Jared Kushner is giving peace between Israel and Palestine another try

As Trump's son-in-law has another go at Middle East peace, he's reportedly shaking up his legal team

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published June 19, 2017 1:45PM (EDT)

Jared Kushner   (AP/Evan Vucci)
Jared Kushner (AP/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner — whose resume consisted entirely of business ventures before his family ties elevated him to the corridors of political power — is going to try to create peace in the Middle East.

The plan is for Kushner to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a report by The Washington Post. He will meet with the former in Ramallah and the latter in Jerusalem.

Kushner will be joined by Jason Greenblatt, a special representative for the Trump administration when it comes to international negotiations.

"It is important to remember that forging a historic peace agreement will take time," a White House official told The Post. "And to the extent that there is progress, there are likely to be many visits by both Mr. Kushner and Mr. Greenblatt, sometimes together and sometimes separately, to the region and possibly many trips by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to Washington, D.C., or other locations as they pursue substantive talks."

As Kushner attempts to resolve decades-old geopolitical conflicts overseas, he continues to face a maelstrom of domestic political headaches. Because of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's ongoing probe into the alleged connection between Trump's election campaign and the Russian government, Kushner is considering shaking up his legal team, according to a report by The New York Times. One cause for concern is that Kushner's lawyer Jamie S. Gorelick was a partner of Mueller's at the law firm of WilmerHale in Washington.

In a statement on Sunday, Gorelick explained that "after the appointment of our former partner Robert Mueller as special counsel, we advised Mr. Kushner to obtain the independent advice of a lawyer with appropriate experience as to whether he should continue with us as his counsel."


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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