The Trump administration on Sunday announced the first stages of its peace plan rollout, confirming that it will host a “workshop” in Bahrain in late June to focus on directing more economic investment to the West Bank and Gaza.
The gathering — formally dubbed the “Peace to Prosperity” workshop — will take place on June 25-26 in Manama, when the Trump team indicated it will release the first portion of its ambitious and highly anticipated proposal to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“This workshop is a pivotal opportunity to convene government, civil society, and business leaders to share ideas, discuss strategies, and galvanize support for potential economic investments and initiatives that could be made possible by a peace agreement,” the White House said in a joint statement with the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The summit, the statement added, will “facilitate discussions on an ambitious, achievable vision and framework for a prosperous future for the Palestinian people and the region, including enhancements to economic governance, development of human capital, and facilitation of rapid private-sector growth.”
The White House did not indicate whether Israel and the Palestinians would attend the summit in Bahrain, and nor did it specify other participants. According to CNN,finance ministers, rather than foreign ministers, will be invited to take part.
A senior administration official told reporters that invitations to the workshop are being sent to individuals in the United States, Europe, the Gulf, the wider Arab world and “some” Palestinian business leaders. The Trump administration decided to roll out the economic and political parts of the plan separately, the official said, adding that there will be no discussion about the political aspects of the plan at the upcoming workshop.
There was no immediate comment on the announcement from Israel or the Palestinians.
The Trump administration suggested the economic framework of the peace proposal would be debated before the resolution of core political issues, such as the question of Palestinian statehood.
White House Special Advisor J Kushner has already said that the team he is leading has refrained from even using the term “two-state solution.” The reason, he said, is that the term has different meanings to different people.
“Economic progress can only be achieved with a solid economic vision and if the core political issues are resolved,” Kushner said in a statement on Sunday. “We look forward to presenting our vision on ways to bridge the core political issues very soon.”
Kushner has said previously that the full contents of the plan will address all final-status issues, i.e., the major disputes to be resolved in negotiations, including borders, the status of Jerusalem, and what to do about Palestinian refugees.
An unnamed US official told CNN that the political aspects of the plan would be released at a later date.
“We recognize that this needs to go hand in hand with the political plan, but this will be the first chance to roll out details of the economic plan,” the official said.
“We think this will showcase the potential of the entire region,” the official added. “If there’s peace, it will touch on not only the West Bank and Gaza but also Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt. The economies will become integrated.”
“Think about how much money is spent on bullets right now,” said the official. “If it could be spent on infrastructure and human capital, think about how much better the region could be.”
Addressing all the outstanding issues on the political side, along with the White House’s economic vision for the Palestinians would make it “tough to digest,” said the official.
No comments:
Post a Comment