Trump's Mideast envoy leaving administration ahead of peace plan release

Image: Jared Kushner
Jason Greenblatt watches Jared Kushner shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on May 30, 2019. Copyright Matty Stern U.S. Embassy via AFP - Getty Images file
By Carol E. Lee and Josh Lederman and Peter Alexander with NBC News Politics
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Jason Greenblatt's departure is the latest sign that optimism for peace plan's prospects may be fading.

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WASHINGTON — Jason Greenblatt, who has served as President Donald Trump's envoy for brokering an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, is leaving the administration senior officials told NBC News Thursday.

His coming departure, confirmed by the president on Twitter, is the latest sign that optimism within the Trump administration for the long-awaited plan's prospects may be fading. Release of the plan, under development since the start of Trump's administration, has already been delayed several times, most recently until sometime after the Israeli elections on Sept. 17.

Avi Berkowitz, a longtime aide to Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner aide, will replace Greenblatt in his role as U.S. special adviser for international negotiations the administration officials said.

And State Department senior adviser Brian Hook, who has spearheaded the administration's Iran policy efforts, is expected to take on a larger role on the peace plan and work more closely with Kushner as the administration's Iran policy increasingly merges with Kushner's peace initiative.

Trump confirmed Greenblatt's departure midday Thursday, saying that his former attorney would be leaving to "pursue work in the private sector."

Greenblatt's planned departure comes after a series of delays in the White House's release of its much-anticipated peace plan.

Over the summer, Greenblatt delayed the final presentation of the peace plan until after the Israeli elections, which are set to take place this month. The substance of the plan that the White House has been championing for months remains opaque, though it has two parts: one to address economic issues and one dedicated to political divides.

The economic portion of the plan was released in June to little fanfare during a U.S.-organized summit in Bahrain that neither Israeli nor Palestinian officials attended. It called for an investment of about $50 billion to lift up Palestinians economically.

Yet since then, there has been little sign of progress toward rolling out the broader plan that will address the thorniest issues in the conflict, such as whether the Palestinians will get an independent state and the status of Palestinian refugees, the city of Jerusalem, and Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Palestinian officials, incensed by the Trump administration's policies towards Palestinians, have already rejected the plan. Palestinian leaders and the White House have not formally had communication since 2017, when Trump infuriated the Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the U.S. Embassy there in a reversal of longstanding U.S. policy that Jerusalem's future should be determined by negotiations. The Palestinians claim part of Jerusalem for the capital of a future independent state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political troubles at home have also created significant complications for the plan. Now Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu failed to put together a governing coalition after Israel's last elections in April, leading to new elections that will take place this month.

Netanyahu responded to Greenblatt's departure by praising him effusively in a statement, saying, "Thank you Jason."

"I would like to thank Jason Greenblatt for his dedicated work for security and peace, and for never hesitating for a moment to speak the truth about the State of Israel in front of all its abusers," Netanyahu said in Hebrew.

Greenblatt is expected to remain with the administration for the coming weeks if not months as he transitions out of the government, officials said.

The shift coincides with rising U.S.-Iran tensions and Trump saying he's willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani within weeks. Iran also is expect to be a large focus of the gathering of world leaders, including Trump, in New York later this month for the United Nations General Assembly.

Greenblatt, a real estate lawyer who worked for Trump's business for roughly two decades, did not have any formal diplomatic experience before being tapped for the Mideast peace envoy role at the start of Trump's administration.

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