Episode #112: En-voyage (feat. Yousef Munayyer & Danny Zaken)

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USCPR Executive Director Yousef Munayyer was interviewed on the Al-Monitor podcast, Off the Hookah with Phil & Cooper, about the resignation of Trump administration National Security Advisor Jason Greenblatt.

On the reputation among Palestinians of former National Security Advisor Jason Greenblatt:

Jason Greenblatt had developed something of a reputation [for] being particularly abrasive and annoying in his communication style, primarily on social media, where he was widely seen by Palestinians as wholeheartedly adopting and then regurgitating right-wing Israeli talking points.

On the future direction of the US-led “peace” process after the resignation of Mr. Greenblatt:

I think what we have seen instead is that the division is taking place on the ground every day and is really manifested in the US policy—which has been completely hands-off when it comes to the right-wing Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, allowing him to act in an unrestrained and unilateral fashion through the rapid expansion of settlements, through the demolition of Palestinian homes and areas that have not even been targeted for demolition before and are extremely sensitive, and even through annexation—and [is] moving in the direction of turning the de facto situation on the ground into a de jure situation of annexation and ultimately apartheid, because in the Israeli vision Palestinians in those areas will not be enfranchised. So the “deal of the century” is taking place on the ground with the approval of the Trump administration, primarily being led, in my view, by the US ambassador in Israel, David Friedman, who was appointed by Donald Trump, more than it is being led by any one individual at the White House. So I think that is likely to continue, even if Mr. Greenblatt is no longer at the White House and even if some plan—as much as it has been talked about—never sees the light of day.

On how Mr. Greenblatt’s departure impact the soon-promised reveal of the Trump administration’s “peace” plan:

I don’t think Greenblatt’s resignation is going to affect the “deal of the century” very much at all. I’m not sure if there is a “deal of the century” that will ever see the light of day as some sort of actual plan for how the situation should move forward, or a framework that captures the vision of the American administration of what a resolution to Israel-Palestine would look like.

On whether Greenblatt’s resignation will have any change on the Trump administration’s policies:

… but that should create no illusions about any shift in this administration’s policy, which is not a product of Jason Greenblatt, but really an administration-wide approach.