Donald Trump has sent a negotiating team that includes son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff to the Gaza peace talks.
While Mr Trump expressed optimism a deal could be reached soon, the involvement of Mr Kushner may further complicate efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and end the war.
Mr Witkoff has cultivated a certain amount of trust with Palestinian interlocutors, but Mr Kushner is deeply mistrusted.
According to Israel’s daily Haaretz, his family has long-standing personal ties to Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The Kushner Companies Charitable Foundation is funding a controversial West Bank settlement.
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As a member of Mr Trump’s second-term team, Mr Kushner has praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property” and suggested Israel should remove civilians while it “cleans up” the enclave.
Mr Trump was compelled to drop this line and accept that Palestinians will remain in Gaza and secure aid for reconstruction.
During Mr Trump’s first term, which lasted from 2017 to 2021, Mr Kushner came up with a plan for Palestinian enclaves in the West Bank and Israeli settlement annexation.
He also promoted the Abraham Accords, which led to the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco normalising relations with Israel. It was rejected by Palestinians, however, and is unpopular in the wider region.
Trust has been at a low ebb in any case following September’s Israeli air strikes on Hamas headquarters in Doha while Qatar was moderating talks.
Hamas negotiators Khalil al-Hayya and Zaher Jabarin survived, but members of the Hamas team – Mr Hayya’s son and a Qatari security man – were killed.
During Mr Netanyahu’s recent visit to the White House, he was compelled to apologise for the strikes. Mr Trump also stated: “I will not allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank ... It’s not going to happen.”
Mr Netanyahu has authorised the construction next to the town of Maale Adumim of a new settlement with 3,400 homes, which would bisect the occupied West Bank. This would render impossible the emergence of a contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
At recent event in Maale Adumim, Mr Netanyahu said: “We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state. This place belongs to us. We’re going to double the city’s population.”
His stance challenges recognition of a Palestinian state, a policy now adopted by 157 of 193 United Nations members, including Ireland.
