Palestinians not too keen on West Asia peace meet
WASHINGTON: The US has rolled out its long-awaited West Asia peace plan with an “economic workshop” it will host with Bahrain in June to seek investments for Palestine and countries in the region impacted by the decadesold conflict.
But Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Monday said any American peace plan that ignores the Palestinians’ political aspirations for an independent state is doomed to fail.
“This workshop is a pivotal opportunity to convene government, civil society, and business leaders to share ideas, discuss strategies, and galvanise support for potential economic investments and initiatives that could be made possible by a peace agreement,” the White House said in a statement on Sunday. The so-called peace to prosperity workshop “will facilitate discussions on a...framework for a prosperous future for the Palestinian people and the region,” it said.
The plan, it appears, is to approach the issue from the economic angle. The political aspects such as the creation of a Palestinian state, territorial claims and the status of Jerusalem will follow as the next stage. Palestinians have refused contacts with the Trump administration since 2017 when the president recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and pushed back against the new plan. “We were not consulted by any party on the announced meeting to take place in Manama, Bahrain,” Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said in a statement. “We have not mandated any party to negotiate on our behalf.”
The workshop is part of larger West Asia peace plan being put together by President Tump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.