WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met Tuesday morning with the White House’s Assistant to the President Jared Kushner and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and released the following statement after the president unveiled his Middle East ‘peace plan’ with Israeli leaders:

“I appreciated the chance to see this proposal before it was released, but quite frankly, this isn't a plan for peace. It's an abandonment of decades of U.S. and multilateral work to create a two-state solution in the Middle East, and it seems to be guided by political, not policy, objectives. During my meeting this morning with Jared Kushner and Ambassador Friedman, I expressed to them my deep concern that this proposal, negotiated with no one but the Israelis, will eliminate any room to negotiate a real deal by setting up hard lines that the Israelis will now never be willing to cross. I also conveyed my alarm that this plan envisions the United States taking unilateral actions to cement the terms of this plan before a single negotiation takes place between Israel and the Palestinians," said Murphy. “It makes no sense, after waiting for three years, to unveil a plan with no Israeli government in place, and after no consultations with the Palestinians. It’s also no coincidence this plan supports recognizing illegal settlements and unilateral Israeli annexation, while discarding any notion of a two-state solution. There is no way there can be a real negotiation and peace agreement in the Middle East without both Palestinians and Israelis at the table and an even-handed negotiator. I wish the administration had spent the last three years engaged in that endeavor.”

Murphy was the only Democratic Senator to provide his input on the ‘peace plan’ directly to Kushner this morning in a meeting at the White House.

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