Summary: After much delay the Kushner Middle East peace deal is finally rolled out in Washington.
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1 thought on “A real estate deal writ large: the Kushner peace deal”
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First, apologies for the delay commenting on this newsletter which is, in my view, a good assessment of the ‘deal’ on the table.
This being said, I am not sure that we should be particularly surprised by what Jared Kushner has (finally) come up with. After all, he has benefitted from a good deal of advice from some smart people around Mr Netanyahu; and both he and his father-in-law have shown themselves to be quite adept over the years at putting together quite complex real estate deals in the US to suit their own purposes (whether they have worked out in practice or not).
But the real point here is “their own purposes”. Mr Kushner’s proposals are only on the table because they happen to suit Donald Trump and his all-important bid for a second term. As with all the US President’s actions over Israel, they are designed to keep his white evangelical base firmly on board. White evangelicals, very largely rock solid in their support for Israel because of their own religious beliefs, comprise around 20% of the US population. 80% of those who voted in 2016 went with Mr Trump. Put these two facts together and it amounts to around one-third of his core support of about 43% of the electorate. Especially as many of their number live (and vote) in critical Mid-West swing states, this is not a body of support Mr Trump can afford to lose; and especially not when there are some signs of some white evangelicals drifting away from Mr Trump over ‘moral’ questions which his impeachment has highlighted.
It is, in my view, primarily this constituency at which Mr Kushner’s plan is primarily aimed, not the Palestinians (of course) or even the West Bank settlers. And in this respect at least the plan is far from subtle!