Of all the problems President Trump threw at senior adviser Jared Kushner, developing a peace plan for the Middle East was the toughest, a win that has eluded administrations for years.
For the Jewish adviser, bringing peace to Israel was personal. And any victory would provide the administration with an everlasting legacy in the region and the world.
He ignored the ridicule of former administration officials when he took a different and secretive path, as he had on several other projects.
“If you look up the definition of an impossible objective in the dictionary, people say Middle East peace. It’s almost a metaphor for impossibility,” he told Secrets.
Kushner built a plan that had a big economic and prosperity push, and while many in Washington brushed it off, it has taken root in the region.
And it set the stage for the Abraham Accords, which has led four former foes — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco — to sign peace agreements with Israel.
“We took a very different approach, and this isn’t a rebuke of Democrats, it’s a rebuke of maybe more of the foreign policy people who’ve come before because they’re Republicans and Democrats, and for years, they did this dance and didn’t get results. Then, those were the people who criticized me the loudest for doing things differently than the way they did. I was like, ‘Wait, so you want me to accomplish a different result than you got, but you want me to do the exact same way that you tried?’” he said.
Joel Rosenberg, a bestselling author, editor of All Israel News and All Arab News, and a roving diplomat, called Kushner one of “the most innovative and successful Middle East peace brokers in history.”
Morocco-Israel Peace Deal Is Encouraging, But US Recognition of Moroccan Sovereignty In Western Sahara Is Sparking Controversy — Here is the inside story on why President Trump made right move with Morocco. @all_arab_news @all_israel_news https://t.co/5fzdgPTu7o
— Joel C. Rosenberg (@JoelCRosenberg) December 17, 2020
He told Secrets, “Four Arab normalization deals with Israel in four months sounds like fiction, like something I’d write about in one of my novels. But Trump and Kushner actually pulled it off. I spent all of last week in the UAE. I’m in Bahrain all this week, and I can report firsthand that senior government officials, business leaders, and venture capitalists in both countries and in Israel are absolutely ecstatic about the Abraham Accords.”
Presidential historian Doug Wead, who interviewed Kushner extensively for his book Inside Trump’s White House, said the key to Kushner’s diplomatic success was his relationship with Trump.
“It was the president who tapped Kushner’s fertile, strategic mind and gave his plans latitude and time to emerge. And it is this knowledge that keeps the media from reporting on this remarkable story. They know full well that to credit Jared Kushner is to credit Donald Trump,” he said.
Wead said Kushner will eventually be recognized by unbiased historians.
“His work may not be recognized by the current hostile media, irritated by his successes, but future historians may one day compare what he has accomplished to Henry Kissinger or to John Foster Dulles or other diplomatic giants,” he said.
Kushner, in our interview, brushed aside the accolades for his work in the Middle East.
“We created something that will grow for generations. It will change the dynamics of the region. It will change the calculations of the world. Hopefully, it leads to less conflict, and the more you have economic connectivity between countries and the more people have opportunities to live a better life,” he said.
And, Kushner added, “I do think it’s fundamentally changed the course of the region and the world, and I’m very, very proud of the role that we’ve been able to play in helping bring that.”
