President Donald Trump's son-in-law is in Morocco Tuesday as part of a three-day trip to garner support for his Middle East peace plan.
White House officials said Tuesday Jared Kushner would also visit Jordan and Israel, along with U.S. representative for Iran Brian Hook and U.S. international negotiator Jason Greenblatt.
The trip comes as the U.S. prepares to unveil the economic part of the plan at a conference in Bahrain in late June.
The Palestinians have already rejected the peace portion of the plan and have called on Arab nations to boycott the conference, citing Trump's previous recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have already committed to participate.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh stressed at a cabinet meeting earlier this month the need for a political agreement with Israel that resolves longstanding issues such Israel's occupation of the West Bank. "Our struggle is over land, to end the occupation, establish our state with Jerusalem as its capital, and return the refugees," he said.
Shtayyeh said the Palestinian financial crisis is the result of a "financial war" against them and that they would not relinquish their rights for money.
A senior White House official said on May 19 the plan calls for substantial investments in the Gaza economy but the investments would require a "stable" cease-fire deal to remain in effect.
"There's a tremendous amount of opportunity [and] the world is willing to step up and work on this," the official said. "But that only happens if we can resolve some of the political issues. The two things go hand in hand."
The conference in Bahrain is scheduled to be held on June 25 and 26.
