US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt is scheduled to visit Israel next week before the Jewish high-holiday of Sukkot, in order to discuss ways to jumpstart the long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. A White House official revealed that Greenblatt is scheduled to hold meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas about the topics that came up in their respective conversations with President Trump, on the sidelines of last week’s general assembly.
Meanwhile, the London-based newspaper Al-Arabi al-Jadeed reported that under President Trump’s peace plan, a Palestinian state would have gradual borders and that a resolution to the Palestinian refugee issue will be postponed. According to the paper, Trump’s plan received the blessing from Washington’s regional partners, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that it does not lead to solutions in keeping with the international resolutions that were passed by the United Nations. Many outlets in the Arab media described the American president’s guidelines for peace between Israel and the Palestinians “the deal of the century.” Sources familiar with the guidelines told TV7 that the plan proposes establishing a Palestinian state in gradual borders, not immediately reaching the Palestinian leadership’s aspired 1967 lines, which in practice means that the state’s boundaries would include the Gaza Strip and all of the territory under the Palestinian Authority’s control in the West Bank. The borders would later be expanded, based on future agreements. It was said further that the agreement would include a special clause that addresses the return of Palestinian refugees upon the establishment of a Palestinian state. Concurrently, Palestinian officials revealed that a special meeting is currently being planned in Egypt’s capital Cairo, which will be attended by official delegations from Israel and Jordan with the aim of discussing the plan and taking the first steps to implement it. The meeting will take place upon the completion of a domestic Palestinian reconciliation deal and the establishment of a new unity government.