There are essentially three ways the United States can work for a peace plan between the Israelis and the Palestinians:
- The US can operate as a mediator–facilitating discussions between the two parties, and providing the occasional idea where necessary to move the process along.
- The US can identify its own plan and attempt to impose it by using its economic and political leverage over the parties.
- The US can abandon any semblance of even-handedness, ask the Israelis for their bottom line, try to get the leaders of the Arab world to buy off on that bottom line, and then ram the consensus down the throats of the Palestinians.
Historically, the preferred approach has been #1, which can only work if both sides view the mediator as being disinterested. #2 has been rejected for the reason that it puts the power and reputation of the US at what has been viewed as an unacceptable risk. We are currently at #3. The Arab heads of state have not bought off on any proposals yet, which is why the Trump/Kushner peace plan hasn’t seen the light of day, more than two years into the Trump presidency, and may never do so.