Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), in Kuwait City, Kuwait, December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Assad Hani

Reuters reported out of Paris today that Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister is cautiously optimistic about the Trump Administration getting a peace deal done between Israelis and Palestinians.

They note the decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US Embassy there has angered Palestinians.

However, Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is leading efforts to restart negotiations. 

President Donald Trump and Kared Kushner at a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting.

“We believe the Trump administration is serious about bringing peace between Israelis and Arabs,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir, a former ambassador to the United States, told France 24 television late on Wednesday.

“They were working on ideas and were consulting with all parties, including Saudi Arabia, and they are incorporating the views represented to them by everybody. They have said they would need a little bit of time to put it together – to present it.”

Jubeir emphasized that Riyadh continued to support a two-state solution, which Washington had indicated to the Saudis was its working proposal. Click here for the full report from Reuters.

“Whether the administration’s proposals are acceptable to the parties remains to be seen because I don’t believe the plan the US administration is working on has been finalized yet,” he told Reuters.

President Trump addresses the Gulf Cooperation Council

Jubeir denied the Sunni Muslim kingdom had any relations with Israel despite sharing Israel’s concern about the regional influence of Shi’ite Iran. He repeated that Riyadh had a “roadmap” to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel should there be a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Israel also says it is waiting for Washington to finish drawing up a peace plan.

“The Americans are preparing a peace deal. They did not tell us the details. They did not speak about a ‘Deal of the Century’. Rather, they asked what we can accept, and they asked the Palestinians the same thing. And they will offer – as they put it – something creative,” Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said in interview with Saudi-owned news site Elaph, published on Wednesday.