Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt’s efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations could encourage Israel to "take risks for peace," if the U.S. shows strong support for Israel, Abraham Foxman, national director emeritus of the Anti-Defamation League, told The Algemeiner.
Kushner, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, and Greenblatt, a special representative for international negotiations under the Trump administration, are working together to take a look at "all the possibilities" for creating more peace in the Middle East, The Algemeiner noted.
"They say that Jason is a good listener. What he and Jared and their team are doing is studying all the possibilities," Foxman said, according to The Algemeiner.
Gestures such as the two men's participation in official mourning of an Israeli border policewoman killed last week are a positive development, according to Foxman.
"The U.S. is publicly embracing Israel – that goes a long way when it comes to getting Israel to take risks," he told The Algemeiner. "[President Donald] Trump isn’t reliable, but he has a greater chance of getting Israel to take risks for peace because of his embrace and support."
Officials have stressed that reaching an agreement on peace will take time.
"... (T)o 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," a White House official said Sunday, according to Reuters.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has persisted since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in 1967, The New York Times noted.
"If you look at the issues, they are the same – borders, Jerusalem, the refugees, settlements," Foxman told The Algemeiner. "But the constellation in the neighborhood is now different, because of the tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran, between Sunni and Shia Islam."
Foxman said Israel will take actions toward peace only if the U.S. is in its corner.