Eli Lake, Columnist

Trump’s Mideast Peace Deal Doesn’t Depend on His Departing Envoy

The missing elements are the willingness and ability of the Palestinians to negotiate.

September 6, 2019 at 3:00 AM EDT

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

In search of a Palestinian negotiating partner.
Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images Europe

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American envoys charged with negotiating a peace between Israel and the Palestinians typically leave their posts after months or years of fruitless negotiations. Not Jason Greenblatt, who has the distinction of leaving before negotiations have even started.

Part of the reason is that this particular peace process has been a long tease. Ever since President Donald Trump bloviated in 2017 about the “deal of the century,” there has been lots of speculation and almost no details. To date, the only thing put forward by Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner is an elaborate promise of investment and development for Palestinians on the condition that they make peace with Israel.

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