US ‘Peace to Prosperity’ summit slights us: Palestinian leaders
JERUSALEM - Palestinian officials said Monday they were not invited to a summit planned for Bahrain next month to discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to bring economic development to Palestinian areas as part of a wider peace effort.
But private Palestinian business people said they had been contacted about attending.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinian political leadership had not been approached and that economic issues could not be separated from political ones.
“Nobody consulted us. Nobody talked to us. Nobody invited us,” he said. “There needs to be a clear political horizon, and then we can discuss ways of implementing that target.”
The White House is seeking to roll out its Middle East peace plan, spearheaded by the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, at a time when the Trump administration’s relationship with the Palestinian leadership has been ruptured.
Palestinian officials say U.S. moves, such as recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, slashing Palestinian Authority funding and closing its Washington office, show a heavy bias toward Israel and are undermining Palestinian chances for a future state. As a result, Palestinian political leaders have said they will no longer engage with the United States as an honest broker in the peace process.
The Trump administration said Sunday it would unveil the economic component of its long-awaited peace plan at a two-day “Peace to Prosperity” workshop in Bahrain in late June. The meeting will not address long-standing political issues, including borders of a potential Palestinian state, refugees and the status of Jerusalem.
Ibrahim Barham, the founder of a Palestinian electronics and engineering company and a member of the Palestinian Monetary Authority, said he had been “surprised” to receive an invitation to the workshop on Monday morning from U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Barham said his attendance would depend on a decision by Palestinian political leaders. “It looks like they’ve invited many business people, but it’s an issue related to our national interest,” he said. “We can’t divide it from what’s going on in the political arena.”
Rudeineh did not rule Palestinian participation and said the Palestinian Authority would respond if invited. But he objected to U.S. efforts to separate economic issues from the core of the conflict. Palestinian officials have accused the administration of following the wishes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in pursing “economic peace.”
“Attempts at promoting an economic normalization of the Israeli occupation of Palestine will be rejected,” said Saeb Erekat, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s chief negotiator. “This is not about improving living conditions under occupation but about reaching Palestine’s full potential by ending the Israeli occupation.”