Kushner discusses Mideast peace with Saudi leaders

White House advisor Jared Kushner held talks with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a regional tour to rally support for a long-awaited Middle East peace proposal, US officials said Wednesday.

“Building on previous conversations, they discussed increasing cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and the Trump administration’s efforts to facilitate peace between the Israelis and Palestinians,” the White House said in a brief statement.

Kushner was accompanied by Jason Greenblatt, the US Middle East peace envoy and Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran.

Earlier this month Kushner briefed countries at a conference in Warsaw on Washington’s plans for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian to be formally presented after Israeli elections in April.

But the Palestinians rejected the meeting as an “American conspiracy” with aims to “normalize” the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. The Palestinians have refused to talk to the Trump administration since the US president recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.

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.

During his tour, Kushner also met leaders in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman this week. He met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey on Wednesday.