Kushner proves savvy deal-maker with Arab allies
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Analysts say Mr Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump, has been smart enough to develop personalised relations with leaders of the Gulf states.
WASHINGTON • The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is getting top-of-the-line fighter jets. Morocco is winning recognition for its decades-old territorial claims. And Sudan is coming off the US terrorism blacklist.
The Arab nations are suddenly achieving long-sought goals after agreeing to normalise ties with Israel, in a last-minute triumph for the unorthodox diplomacy of outgoing President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Mocked as a lightweight, Mr Kushner is scoring historic breakthroughs with four Arab states joining the so-called Abraham Accords with Israel. Veterans of Middle East diplomacy agree that Mr Kushner moved nimbly after the UAE first signalled its willingness to recognise Israel.
"He had the authority; he was smart enough to develop personalised relations..." said Mr Dennis Ross, who served as Mr Bill Clinton's Middle East envoy.
Mr Kushner, a family friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, broke decades of US norms on Middle East peacemaking by barely pretending to be evenhanded with the Palestinians. Mr Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and gave the blessing of the US if Mr Netanyahu wanted to annex much of the West Bank.
Mr Kushner then warned the Palestinians, who were offered a limited state, not to "screw up another opportunity".
Mr Trump gave comedians fodder for jokes by putting Mr Kushner in charge of everything from the Middle East to painkiller addiction, but in the Gulf, such familial arrangements showed that he spoke for the President. "In the Middle East, what negotiators or mediators need is unmistakable authority," Mr Ross said.
Mr Kushner, who turns 40 next month, largely bypassed the State Department, leveraging instead on his personal ties with Arab royalty.
He had initially seen Gulf Arab promises of money as a way to pressure the Palestinians - unsuccessfully - to accept peace on Israel's terms. But this year, UAE strongman Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan - described by former president Barack Obama as the Gulf's savviest leader - reached out to turn the dynamic on its head.
Mr Netanyahu would drop his plan for annexation. The UAE, in turn, would be the first Arab nation in over 25 years to recognise Israel - and win the right to buy stealth-capable US F-35s.
"It was an initiative that was really driven by the Emiratis but the (US) administration... has used that template these last several months," said Mr David Makovsky, who studies Arab-Israeli relations at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE