The Palestinians said they did not like President Donald Trump's Middle East peace proposal before they saw what was in it, but as it turns out, it was "much better than they expected," the president's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner, who worked extensively on the plan, said Wednesday.
"It's gotten a lot of regional support," Kushner told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "These people have been professional at not finishing or making deals and what they don't like is we are not going to do it the same way it's been done before. But the way it's been done before has failed."
This time, Trump is taking a new approach, said Kushner, and what's been seen with the Palestinians' response so far is that they "are not ready to have a state."
Meanwhile, Israel has taken a "giant step" toward the deal, which has come after Trump has built trust with the Israeli people, said Kushner.
"Past proposals have been two or three pages," he added. "This is an over 80-page proposal, never done before, in getting Israel to agree to a Palestinian state ... it is an amazing first step that will make us be closer to peace in the near future."
The proposal doubles the Palestinians' territory and gives economic incentives if they are willing to change their government structure, said Kushner.
"You need to have freedom of press and respect for human rights," said Kushner. "This gives them a pathway to achieve everything they spoke about."
However, as a condition of statehood, the Palestinian leaders must recognize Israel as a Jewish state and renounce terrorism, and Kushner admitted it is difficult to change people's minds overnight.
In a separate interview with Sky News Arabia, Kushner said he prepared himself as best he could to help piece together the peace proposal.
"I've been studying this now for three years," he said. "I've read 25 books on it, I've spoken to every leader in the region, I've spoken to everyone who's been involved in this."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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