Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – Jared Kushner, son-in-law and advisor to former US President Donald Trump, has published memoirs entitled “breaking history” in which he touched on the Gulf crisis between Qatar on one side and Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt on the other.
“I was planning to visit Qatar and its emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the next day,” Kushner said in his memoirs. So before my meeting with Mohammed bin Salman ended, I asked him if he had made any progress with Qatar, the country on the eastern side of Saudi Arabia. Which has been the focus of the Saudi-led blockade for more than three years.. Mohammed bin Salman said they had prepared a proposal that they would send to the Qataris via Kuwait, which was acting as their mediator.
Kushner added: “I said (to Mohammed bin Salman) I will travel to Qatar tomorrow morning to see Tamim .. I can bring the show with me and save the postage for you (to save time). Mohammed bin Salman said he would do that before I got on the plane .. I asked another question: If he wanted to talk, would you be open to having a call with him (Tamim bin Hamad)? Without hesitation, MBS indicated that he would. He liked Tamim and wanted to resolve the matter and move forward.”
He continued: “The next day, before we boarded our plane, Faisal greeted us on the runway with a box of Saudi dates as a gift and handed me an envelope containing a Saudi offer to Qatar. Upon my arrival in Qatar, Avi, Brian Hook and General Correa headed to the palace to meet with Tamim and many other His trusted advisors Our relationship began on difficult terms due to Tillerson’s inaccurate suggestion that I was responsible for the Gulf dispute. It has steadily improved over the years as we met and engaged in strategic dialogues. When I shared his Peace to Economic Prosperity plan with him, Tamim predicted that we were focused on the plan. “If we achieve peace in the region, the explosion in economic activity will be greater than we imagined.”
Kushner went on to say, “I said (to Tamim bin Hamad) I have a proposal from Mohammed bin Salman .. I saw it with my team, and although it is not ideal, I think it is a good start .. Tamim said that if they resolve the dispute, the paper will not be important. The important thing is Saudi Arabia’s intention.. Qatar has invested a lot of time trying to reach a compromise, but it seems to have made no progress.. He asked me if I thought the Saudis were really ready to resolve the conflict?.. I said not everyone.. But MBS is ready. You have to trust me when I say I think he really wants to solve it…”
And he added: “I handed the document to Tamim, and he began to read it.. After we discussed some outstanding issues, I asked him if he was ready to make a quick call with Mohammed bin Salman to hear directly from the Saudi Crown Prince regarding the sincerity of this offer. Tamim was hesitant, and reminded me that the call The last one between them was nice, but then it became problematic when both countries published conflicting summaries of the call, increasing tensions. He added that even if they had a good call, they would need to fix the broken process and come up with a new mechanism to come up with a solution…”
“I have proposed establishing a channel of communication between his skillful foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, and Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman,” Kushner wrote. “I can work with Kuwait’s foreign minister, Dr. Ahmed, to mediate discussions.. Tamim asked if the Saudis would agree to my proposal.” Putting aside all the formalities of my being in the prince’s palace, I took a page from my old book on doing business: Let me ask him. Do you have a meeting room I can use to call MBS (Mohammed bin Salman)?”
And he continued, “His assistant showed me to the adjacent meeting room. I was soon on the phone with Mohammed bin Salman, and told him regarding my conversation with Tamim. Mohammed bin Salman assured me that if Tamim was sincere in his desire to resolve the dispute, he would meet him more than half way.. I asked are you open to setting up a channel between Prince Khalid and Sheikh Mohammed, which I would like to mediate personally, to try to resolve the issues outstanding in the documents? Mohammed bin Salman agreed immediately.. I said would you mind waiting for one minute? I handed the phone to Avi, who Mohammed bin Salman always enjoyed talking to him, and I walked down the short hallway to Tamim’s office.. I said: Mohammed bin Salman has approved the channel as a way to resolve open issues.. with me on the phone.. I think it will help build trust for you to hear from each other. .are you willing to talk to him.. Tamim kept a poker face (expressionless) as he weighed the consequences..then agreed.”
He added, “I went back to the meeting room.. ‘Wait one second. I’ll pick you up with Tamim. He’s ready to talk’.. I entered Tamim’s office and put the phone on the speakerphone. Tamim greeted Mohammed bin Salman in Arabic, and the two leaders spoke for regarding ten minutes while everyone else was In the room they listen. I didn’t speak Arabic fluently, I stood nervously, trying to read Tamim and his advisors’ facial expressions, as I had no idea what they were saying. When Tamim hung up, he paused to look at the phone and then handed it to me. The room was silent.. I broke the silence “Was that a good call or a bad call? Everyone burst into nervous laughter.. Tamim thanked me and said it was a great call and he is open to resuming talks if they can make progress. He was saddened that the disagreement had led to a lot of bitterness among their citizens.”
CNN in Arabic contacted the Saudi and Qatari authorities to comment on what Kushner wrote, without a response as of writing this report.