Former U.S. Middle East peace envoy Jason Greenblatt is joining OurCrowd, an Israeli crowdfunding and venture investment company, to build business ties with Arab countries — including ones that don't have official relations with Israel.
After spending nearly three years helping to develop President Donald Trump's Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, Greenblatt stepped down from his White House position three months before its January release. His new job will leverage ties made in that position.
"We have relationships with Israel and its Arab neighbors that have been developing over the last several years and are becoming more and more public," Greenblatt said in an interview. "From the conversations I've had, people are ready."
Two countries he sees as a focus are the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Israel doesn't have formal diplomatic ties with them, but its relations with Gulf Arab States have improved in recent years over a shared interest in combating Iran's regional influence.
Palestinians rejected the Trump plan as disregarding their aspirations. Greenblatt said economic ties between Israel and Arab countries will move forward no matter how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict fares.
"It's not to leave the Palestinians behind, but I think people realize that at some point the Palestinians cannot hold up the prosperity of the region," he said.
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