Kushner to visit Turkey to discuss Mideast peace plan

White House adviser Jared Kushner is visiting Turkey on Wednesday to discuss and promote his Middle East peace plan, TRT World can confirm.

Kushner bears responsibility for Washington's Israel-Palestine policy. 

He has said he will address final-status issues of that conflict, including establishing borders, during a week-long trip to the Middle East.

During his visit on Wednesday, he will meet several Turkish officials. 

On Monday, Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, the US Middle East peace envoy, met with leaders in the United Arab Emirates and Oman as part of a regional tour to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

'Deal of the century'

Turkey and Israel, former allies, expelled each other's top diplomats last May during a row over clashes in which scores of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces on the Gaza-Israel fence.

Turkey has been one of the most vocal critics of US President Donald Trump's move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and opening an embassy there.

According to the US media, Kushner's tour aims to brief its regional allies about Trump's so-called "deal of the century" – a backchannel plan to reach a peace settlement between the Palestinians and Israel.

The terms of Washington's peace plan remain vague. 

But according to observers, Palestinian refugees will be asked to concede their right to return to historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel. 

US' pro-Israel bias

The Palestinians have refused to talk to the Trump administration since the US president recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017.

They see the eastern part of the occupied city as the capital of their future state and have said Washington's pro-Israel bias meant the US could no longer be the main mediator in stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

The Trump administration has since dealt a series of blows to the Palestinian Authority, including cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for the Palestinians.