Trump’s Middle East peace plan is comprised of the following elements: a U.S. coalition of Sunni countries with Israel to oppose Iran, while calling on the Sunnis to normalize relationships with Israel; expecting Arabs to force Abbas to accept a peace plan with Israel; and requiring Israel to give up most of Judea, Samaria and maybe parts of East Jerusalem.
Trump is motivating Egyptian President el-Sisi and possibly King Abdullah of Jordan to get involved in the Israeli-Palestinian talks with the inducement of U.S. foreign aid to two countries in great economic need as well as providing much needed military equipment. Moreover, they have the Saudis and other Sunni countries supporting a U.S./Sunni/Israel coalition out of great concerns over Iran. The Sunni relationship building and peace strategy was birthed and managed by Jared Kushner.
Trump-Maria Update
On Monday, Trump met with Netanyahu the same day Hurricane Maria jumped from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm, a jump that is extremely rare. Plus, due to Trump, Netanyahu met with el-Sisi to talk about a peace deal.
Source: Weather Underground
In a period of less than 14 hours, Hurricane Maria strengthened from a category 1 hurricane into a category 5 hurricane.
Timeline in US Eastern Time:
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Sept. 18, 5 AM - Maria is at category 1.
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Sept. 18, 8 AM - Maria is at category 2 and had been there since before 7 AM.
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Sept. 18, 11 AM - Maria is at category 3.
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Sept. 18, 2 PM - Maria continues to strengthen at category 3.
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Sept. 18, 5 PM - Maria is at category 4.
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Sept. 18, 6:45 PM - Maria is at category 5.
Note: The timeline referenced used mostly 3-hour intervals, so the time the hurricane first reached certain category numbers may fall in between these measurements.
On Wednesday, Trump was meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah of Jordan and Egyptian President el-Sisi as the U.S. territory Puerto Rico was being hit by the largest hurricane in 85 years (after it had already clobbered the U.S. territory of St. Croix). This was a hurricane of historic proportions according to the governor.
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Trump-Abdullah meeting quote at today’s 9:30 a.m. meeting at the UN
King Abdullah of Jordan: Mr. President, thank you very much. … And I’m very grateful for your support to our country in these difficult times. But I’d also like to extend our condolences to the victims of the hurricanes, but also how you, the government, the people, the first responders reacted to the crisis. … For us sitting on the outside, looking at how the Americans came together during a difficult time, is really an example.
President Trump: We have a big one going right now. I’ve never seen winds like this — in Puerto Rico. You take a look at what’s happening there, and it’s just one after another.
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Trump-Middle East Leader UN meetings chronology
September 18
President Trump Meets with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel - White House
President Donald J. Trump Approves Puerto Rico Emergency Declaration
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September 20
President Trump Meets with Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority -
President Trump Meets with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan -
President Trump Meets with President Al Sisi of Egypt - White House
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September 21
President Donald J. Trump Approves Puerto Rico Disaster Declaration -
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September 22
Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Phone Calls with the Governors of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands Regarding Hurricane Maria - White House
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Three ‘all-time’ record hurricanes in 30 days
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Three historical record-setting hurricanes during 30 days of serious Middle East-Israel negotiations led by Trump administration
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Over $250 billion plus in damages and massive dislocation
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Praying for those in need and harm’s way
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President Trump updates on the three major hurricanes – September 21, 2017
I do want to report that, with the hurricanes, we spoke with Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, and I will tell you, Texas is doing really, really well. Those people are working hard and effectively, and you have a great governor. And Texas is really coming out of that horrible Hurricane Harvey really, really well.
Florida, very similar. Great governor, Rick Scott — spoke with him. Florida was — I mean, they were hit hard, they were hit hard. But they're doing very, very well. Ahead of schedule. The power is back on — almost, for the most part, outside of the Keys where you have a devastation problem, but even there we're working very hard. But Florida is doing really well. So Texas, Florida, we give it an A-plus.
Puerto Rico was absolutely obliterated. Puerto Rico got hit with winds — they say they've never seen winds like this anywhere. It got hit as a five — Category 5 storm — which just literally never happens.
So Puerto Rico is in very, very, very tough shape. Their electrical grid is destroyed. It wasn't in good shape to start off with, but their electrical grid is totally destroyed and so many other things. So we're starting the process now and we'll work with the governor and the people of Puerto Rico. But Puerto Rico is a whole different category in many ways — in many ways.
But it is — in fact, you just — all you have to do is read or turn on the television and you'll see a place that was practically leveled. It's incredible, the power of that wind. That was a very unique — not for many decades has a storm hit a piece of land like that.
So Puerto Rico will start the process. With — we have actually Tom Bossert is with us in the other room. We're just talking about it. We're going to start it with great gusto, but it's in very, very, very perilous shape. Very sad what happened to Puerto Rico.
So that's just an update on the three primary areas. Virgin Islands are — I don't even have to say; all you have to do is take a look at a picture. They are flattened. Areas around there have been flattened. So these were storms that they haven't seen in many years. It's very sad actually, to see it. But we will start the process. As we've proven, we have incredible teams. It has been beyond — who would've thought after Texas, they go to Florida, then they go to Puerto Rico, and they go to other places too. Louisiana took a little bit of a hit and they recovered really well. They've done a fantastic job in Louisiana. Alabama took a hit but they recovered. Alabama has been fantastic. So many people went to Alabama during the storm — during the Florida storm, and likewise Georgia.
So many places were so incredible in the way they've handled it. So we are going to start the process now with Puerto Rico. We'll have further updates on it, but it was one of the most serious storms anyone has ever seen.