Palestinian leaders reject Kushner’s economic plan for region

Palestinian leadership said Saturday that White House adviser Jared Kushner’s proposed economic plan was a non-starter unless it came coupled with a political solution for the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Reuters reported that leaders of both the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the West Bank and Hamas, the Islamist militant party that controls the Gaza strip, dismissed Kushner’s proposal for a $50 billion plan that includes a global investment fund meant to improve economic opportunities in the Palestinian territories.

{mosads}“We reject the ‘deal of the century’ and all its dimensions, the economic, the political and the security dimensions,” a senior Hamas official told Reuters.

“The issue of our Palestinian people is a nationalistic issue, it is the issue of a people who are seeking to be free from occupation. Palestine isn’t for sale, and it is not an issue for bargaining. Palestine is a sacred land and there is no option for the occupation except to leave,” the official added.

A senior official with the PLO was more measured, stating that a political solution that ends the Israeli “occupation” of the West Bank and Gaza strip must occur before any economic deal could be reached, calling Kushner’s deal “all abstract promises.”

Israel’s energy minister Yuval Steinitz, meanwhile, praised Kushner’s plan on an Israeli television station.

“What’s been published until now looks good and even very good. We are always in favor of developing the Palestinian economy, ending the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, ensuring economic prosperity in the Palestinian communities,” he reportedly said.

“The entire world wants to help the Palestinians except for the Palestinians themselves,” the minister added.

White House officials unveiled Kushner’s sprawling economic plan earlier Saturday, calling it a path to “empower the Palestinian people to build a prosperous and vibrant Palestinian society.”