Trump's Palestinian Aid-for-Peace Moves Face Tough Challenges
- Palestinian Authority says won’t accept U.S. economic plan
- Israel fears Hamas will use aid to Gaza to attack it
A Palestinian man inspects a destroyed car after an Israeli air strike in al-Shujaiyya neighbourhood in the Gaza Strip on June 17.
Photographer: Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images
The U.S. thinks its emerging plan to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict will have a better chance to succeed if the teetering Palestinian economy is shored up, but that’s no easy task.
The Trump administration’s Middle East negotiators, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, will be discussing ways to avert a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and create jobs in the West Bank while in the region this week, said two Israeli officials, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential talks. The U.S. believes a stronger Palestinian economy could bolster peace prospects, a White House official said, requesting anonymity because the matter is sensitive.