Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete F.
I wonder why the Palestinians don't trust Floridaman or his envoys
Jared Kushner, David Friedman, Jason Greenblatt in charge of US-Middle East peace plan despite no political experience.
There are at least three things that Jared Kushner, David Friedman and Jason Greenblatt all have in common. One is that they are all Orthodox Jews, and another is that prior to their appointment as officials in the Trump administration, all three men had no prior political or diplomatic experience.
The third is that this triad has connections to Israel, or more specifically, to the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Since Trump took office on January 20, 2017, Israel - a traditional US ally that receives military aid annually from Washington - has taken a series of measures that have been criticised as "racist" and "discriminatory" against the Palestinian people.
Trump is still expected to unveil details of what he has long referred to as the "deal of the century" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The unveiling of the plan has so far been delayed twice, with the US citing Israeli elections as the reason for the delay. The economic part of the agreement has already been rejected by the Palestinians.
Here is a timeline of key US decisions regarding Palestinians since Trump assumed office.
2017:
February 16: Trump drops the long-standing US commitment to a two-state solution, says he would back a single-state solution after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
March 24: US Senate approves the appointment of David Friedman, a supporter and donor to illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land, as Washington's ambassador to Israel.
December 6: Trump announces a controversial decision to relocate US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, formally recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital, breaking with decades of US policy.
2018:
January 3: Trump threatens to cut aid to the Palestinians in a series of Twitter posts, citing their unwillingness "to talk peace".
January 17: US government cuts more than half its planned funding ($65m out of a $125m aid package) to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees that caters to more than five million registered refugees.
May 14: US embassy officially opens in Jerusalem on the same day Palestinians commemorate 70 years since the Nakba or "Catastrophe", the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian cities and towns by Zionist paramilitaries in 1948 - also the eve of when the state of Israel was established.
August 19: Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was tasked along with envoy Jason Greenblatt with reviving the stalled peace process in 2017, embarks on Middle East tour to build support for the yet-to-be-announced Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
August 25: US cuts $200m economic aid to the Palestinians after it had planned to provide $251m for good governance, health, education and funding for civil society in the current 2018 budget.
August 31: US State Department says it is stopping all funding to UNRWA after determining the organisation to be an "irredeemably flawed operation".
September 9: US slashes one of its last remaining aid programmes ($25m in financial assistance) to a network of six hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem.
September 10: US closes the PLO mission to Washington, DC, over Palestinian Authority's refusal to enter into US-led talks with Israel.
September 17: US revokes visas for the PLO envoy and his family in Washington, DC, causing them to leave the country.
September 17: US cuts $10m in aid for programmes on conflict resolution, designed to bring reconciliation for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
2019:
March 25: Trump recognises Israel's 1981 annexation of the occupied Golan Heights, reversing decades of US's policy.
June 20: US reveals proposal to create a $50bn global investment fund for the Palestinians and neighbouring Arab states, designed to be the economic engine of the US's Middle East peace plan.
June 25: Bahrain hosts the Manama conference to discuss what the US described as the economic part of the long-delayed peace plan.
June 26: Jared Kushner, Trump's adviser and son-in-law, urges Palestinian leaders, who boycotted and decried the US-led economic workshop in Bahrain, to think outside the "traditional box" as Manama conference closes.
November 18: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces that the administration will no longer abide by a 1978 State Department legal opinion that Israeli settlements were inconsistent with international law.
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"Jared Kushner, David Friedman, Jason Greenblatt in charge of US-Middle East peace plan despite no political experience"
Many Americans view
not spending your life in DC as a career politician, as a good thing. Despite Trumps lack of political experience, he clobbered Hilary in 2016, who spent her entire life in politics. Despite his lack of previous political experience, Trump has unemployment at a 50 year low, and minority unemployment at an all-time low. Despite his lack of political experience, he has proposed a peace agreement that has more substance to it (a recognized state of Palestine, increasing the amount of land Palestine controls)than anything proposed by any previous president in my lifetime.
"One is that they are all Orthodox Jews"
So you're a bigot who believes that there needs to be a religious litmus test? Again, despite being devout Jews, these guys are proposing a plan which requires Israel to make enormous sacrifices. The fact that the ones who came up with that plan are Jews makes it more impressive, not less impressive.
You're un-hinged, horrified at the prospect of Trump yet again making progress which no one else before him (in either party) could pull off.
If Obama and Hilary came up with this same exact plan, you guys would all have had a collective orgasm, and nominated Obama for a second Nobel Peace Prize. But you can't admit the administration can do anything positive, despite the obvious empirical results.
Go back to your jew-bashing...