^{Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are seen during the final day of the Republican National Convention, July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)}

Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner is reportedly expected to play a key role in the crafting and implementation of his father-in-law’s Mideast policy over the next four years, even though he won’t be formally part of the administration.

CNN on Friday cited several regional diplomats and Trump allies who voiced this expectation. Sources familiar with Kushner’s thinking similarly said he was unlikely to take a job in the administration but will likely be an outside adviser.

“No one on the incoming team has what Jared has, and that is trust. Jared earned it, he didn’t have it at the beginning. He earned it. That takes time to build,” said a regional diplomat.

“Friendships are forever in this region,” an Israeli source who dealt with the first Trump administration told CNN. “My assumption is that his role is much more in his hands than anybody else’s.”

The diplomats and officials quoted in the report noted Kushner’s close ties to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which they said could allow for more private contacts.

“I can see a world where Trump says can you go meet with so and so,” said one of the diplomats. “Kushner could be sent on missions or assignments.”

^{Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right, meets with senior advisor to the US President, Jared Kushner in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, September 1, 2020. (Saudi Press Agency via AP)}

A source told CNN that Kushner was available to brief and give advice to all incoming administration officials working on Mideast related matters and that he believes it’s possible to make further progress in advancing normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states.

The US news network also reported that numerous nominees have read or are reading Kushner’s 2022 memoir “Breaking History” in an effort to understand the Middle East, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Last week, Trump’s special envoy for Iran during his first term in office said he expected the incoming administration would pursue similar policies in the Middle East.

The Republican president was hawkish on Iran, leaving the US-Iran nuclear deal and exacting a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions on the country. He cultivated ties with Sunni Arab states, ultimately brokering the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Muslim nations.

^{Credit: AP/Susan Walsh}

Brian Hook said that Trump’s peace plan to resolve Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians — his so-called “deal of the century” — would likely be back on the table in a second Trump presidency, though he noted that the appetite for a two-state solution has diminished, following Hamas’s October 2020 attack that sparked the ongoing Gaza war.

The plan — crafted in large part by Kushner and unveiled in 2020 — envisioned Israel being able to annex all of its settlements in the West Bank while granting the Palestinians a pathway to a semi-contiguous state on the remaining territory.

The proposal was swiftly rejected by the Palestinian Authority, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the plan with reservations. His settler allies, who are now part of his coalition, rejected the proposal due to its inclusion of a potential Palestinian state.

Source: The Times of Israel