Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, Executive Committee Member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, has offered her respected opinion to Newsweek, regarding the U.S. so-called “peace plan”, led by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Ashrawi calls the trio of Jason Greenblatt, Jared Kushner, and David Friedman – “a group of ideologically driven men with personal ties to the U.S. president and Israel, no experience in world politics and no interest in international law or the universality of human rights.”
She calls the group “a lethal combination of religious fundamentalist and nationalistic bias… with views that align with the far right in Israel.”
The PLO Executive Member stated that Jared Kushner, the United States president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, “as head of the Middle East ‘peace’ team, is just one example of this unqualified and irresponsible group.”
She claimed Kushner supports and funds the Israeli occupation army, as well as funding “construction in the illegal Israeli Beit El settlement” near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
Friedman too is accused of being invested in the illegal Israel settlements, heading “an organization called American Friends of Beit El.” Greenblatt’s personal ties with Trump and open allegiance to Israel is also exposed.
Ashrawi states “Trump’s ‘peace team’ is seemingly stuck in the colonial era, when the subjugation of other peoples was justified by the racist claim that they were incapable of governing themselves.”
She continued “In Palestine’s case, the international community has repeatedly and unequivocally recognized and reaffirmed this right for decades. But like his father-in-law, Kushner is obviously ignorant of the law and averse to facts.”
Dr. Ashrawi declared that “Kushner is voicing the dominant bias of this administration, which treats Israel with positive exceptionalism, rewards and bribes while singling out Palestinians for negative exceptionalism, bullying and exclusion.”
She lists the actions of the U.S. since Trump entered office;
1. “The unilateral and illegal decision to recognize Israel’s illegitimate annexation of Jerusalem was just the first in a series of hostile and irresponsible political and financial decisions—aimed not at achieving peace but at pummeling the Palestinians into submission and capitulation.”
2. “The administration also closed the Palestinian representative office in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, which had served U.S.-Palestinian relations since 1844.”
3. “It discontinued Congress-approved funding to Palestinian civil society, hospitals and infrastructure, and then, following the advice of this “peace team,” it defunded UNRWA, the U.N. agency mandated to serve over 5 million Palestinian refugees.”
Lastly, Dr. Ashrawi affirms that “the Palestinian people are not begging for charity or seeking to improve the conditions of their captivity.” “Palestinians seek to realize their natural and inalienable right to self-determination, freedom, sovereignty and dignity—none of which depend on Kushner’s approval nor the administration’s endorsement.”
