I met this morning at the White House with Jared Kushner and Ambassador Friedman. I appreciate the meeting. I gave them my unvarnished opinion on their so-called "peace plan", which in reality is a total abandonment of decades of U.S. Middle East policy.
Here's what I told them:
Here's what I told them:
1/ This plan was negotiated with no one but the Israelis, and thus it's not a peace plan at all. Peace can only be achieved through agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people. By setting these new terms, it makes it harder for Israel to compromise later.
2/ Any claim that this plan envisions a Palestinian state is just false. The plan allows Israel to control all security matters inside the Palestinian "state", and thus it's not a state at all.
3/ The unilateral annexation of the Jordan River valley and existing settlements, deemed illegal under U.S. and international law, will set back the peace process decades. And it risks real violence and massive destabilization inside places like Jordan.
4/ I remain a devoted supporter of Israel and our commitment to their security and defense. But this proposal compromises the long term security of both Israel and the United States. That's why I oppose it.
