Trump sending team to Mideast to discuss Israeli-Palestinian so-called peace process

US President Donald Trump is dispatching a team to the Middle East to discuss prospects for resuming the so-called peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, the White House says.

Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner; his envoy for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt; and deputy national security adviser Dina Powell will travel to the region in the coming days, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

The three officials will meet with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Authority and discuss “how best to support the peace effort,” it said.

“He (Trump) believes that the restoration of calm and the stabilized situation in Jerusalem [al-Quds] after the recent crisis on the Temple Mount-Haram al Sharif has created an opportunity to continue discussions and the pursuit of peace that began early in his administration,” it added.

On July 14, the Israeli regime shut down al-Aqsa Mosque after a deadly shooting at the holy mosque’s compound in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The gunfight took place just outside the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount) and left three Palestinians and two Israeli police officers dead.

The move by Israel caused days of mass demonstrations and clashes before Israel began to remove its imposed restrictions on the al-Aqsa Mosque compound on July 27.

The Tel Aviv regime removed the installed barriers, scaffoldings, high-tech cameras and metal detectors from at least one of the gates to the compound.

The Trump administration has been by and large vague about the potential establishment of a Palestinian state. Earlier this year, Washington suggested that it would no longer insist on the so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which envisages the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

On August 9, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Secretary General, Saeb Erekat, called on the Trump administration to take a clear position regarding the issue.

Erekat also urged the US to agree that the negotiations require a complete freeze in Tel Aviv’s settlement construction in the occupied territories.

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built illegally since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The continued expansion of Israeli settlements is one of the major obstacles to the establishment of peace in the Middle East.

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