Abbas aide: U.S. peace plan will fail without Palestinian statehood
Comment comes after White House announces June summit to unveil first stage of Mideast peace plan; PA says wasn't consulted about conference, which will not discuss final borders, Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees or Israeli security demands
Any American peace plan that ignores the Palestinian people's political aspirations for an independent state is doomed to fail, a senior Palestinian official said Monday -- boding poorly for a Mideast peace conference in Bahrain,planned next month.
The comments by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman immediately cast a cloud over the conference, which is expected to take place in late June in the tiny Gulf Arab state of Bahrain.
"Any plan without a political horizon will not lead to peace," Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.
The White House announced Sunday it will unveil the first phase of its long-awaited Mideast peace plan at the conference, to be held in Bahrain saying it will focus on economic benefits that could be reaped if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved.
The plan envisions large-scale investment and infrastructure work, much of it funded by wealthy Arab countries, in the Palestinian territories.
But officials said the June 25-26 conference will not include the core political issues at the center of the conflict: final borders, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees or Israeli security demands.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Monday that the PA has not been consulted about the conference.
"The cabinet wasn't consulted about the reported workshop, neither over the content, nor the outcome nor timing," Shtayyed told Palestinian ministers in Ramallah in the presence of reporters.
He did not immediately say whether Palestinians would attend the event in Manama, which U.S. officials have predicted will include representatives and business executives from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, as well as some finance ministers.
"The financial crisis the Palestinian Authority is living through today is a result of the financial war that is being launched against us in order to win political concessions," Shtayyeh told the cabinet.
"We do not submit to blackmail and we don't trade our political rights for money."
The prime minister reiterated core Palestinian demands for a two-state peace deal with Israel, which include gaining full control of the West Bank and Hamas-ruled Gaza, as well as East Jerusalem.
But breaking from the policies of its predecessors, the Trump administration has refused to endorse a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Palestinians, who severed ties with the U.S. over a year ago, after the US moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, have repeatedly expressed fears that the White House will try to buy them off with large sums of investment in exchange for freezing their demands for an independent state.
They believe the U.S. is trying to rally support from other Arab countries to bully them into accepting a plan they see as unacceptable.
In a joint statement with Bahrain, the White House said the gathering will give government, civil and business leaders a chance to rally support for economic initiatives that could be possible with a peace agreement.
"The Palestinian people, along with all people in the Middle East, deserve a future with dignity and the opportunity to better their lives," President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, said in a statement Sunday. "Economic progress can only be achieved with a solid economic vision and if the core political issues are resolved."
Kushner and Trump's Mideast envoy, Jason Greenblatt, have been leading efforts to draft the plan, but after more than two years of work, they have not released any details.
A senior administration official in Washington told reporters Sunday that invitations to the conference are being sent to individuals in the United States, Europe, the Gulf, the wider Arab world and "some" Palestinian business leaders. The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement.
It was not known if Abbas' Palestinian Authority was being invited. There also was no immediate comment from Israel.
In the absence of direct talks with Palestinian leaders, U.S. officials often talk of engaging private Palestinians and "civil society" groups. It remains unclear who these contacts are or whom they represent.
Trump's ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has embraced a group led by West Bank settlers that is seeking to promote business ties with Palestinian partners. Avi Zimmerman, the head of the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce, said he had not received an invitation to Bahrain, but believes the group's programs will be presented.
Without a formal address on the Palestinian side, it is also unclear how any large-scale projects would be carried out. It also was not known how any projects would be carried out in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. and Israel consider Gaza's Hamas rulers to be a terrorist group and have no direct contacts with them.
The Palestinians have already said they would reject any peace plan offered by the U.S., saying Trump is unfairly biased toward Israel.
Kushner said it has been disheartening that the Palestinian leadership has attacked the plan before it's unveiled.
Earlier this month, Kushner insisted that the plan he's helped craft is a very detailed, fresh approach that he hopes will stimulate discussion and lead to a breakthrough in solving the decades-old conflict.
At a think tank in Washington, Kushner described it as an "in-depth operational document" not anchored to previous, failed negotiations, high-level political concepts or stale arguments.
