United States officials said on Sunday that the White House will unveil the first part of US President Donald Trump’s long-awaited peace plan between Israel and Palestine during an economic conference in Bahrain next month.
The conference aims to encourage investment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to Reuters.
It will include officials and businesspeople in an effort to enhance the economic situation of the US-brokered peace plan, which is also expected to include proposals to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Previously, Trump described the anticipated plan as “the deal of the century,” but Palestinian officials criticised the US effort as they believe it will be highly biased toward Israel.
The conference, which will be hosted by Manama on 25-26 June, is expected to bring together representatives and business executives from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
US officials did not clarify whether Palestinian and Israeli officials would attend the conference or not.
The Palestinian Authority has boycotted the US manoeuvres since late 2017 when Trump decided to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognise the city as the capital of Israel.
Despite the US statements that many Palestinian businesspeople showed great interest in the conference, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday that the Palestinians were not consulted about the conference.
Israeli Minister of Finance, Moshe Kahlon, said that his government did not receive an invitation yet.
In April, Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser, said that Trump’s long-awaited plan to break the deadlock between Israel and Palestine would be unveiled after the end of the holy month of Ramadan (end of June).
Kushner, who is one of the authors of the plan, noted that the plan which has been postponed for several reasons over the past 18 months, has two main aspects, one political and the other economic. The political aspect addresses main issues such as the situation of Jerusalem, while the economic aspect is aimed at helping Palestinians strengthen their economy.
“Our focus is really on the bottom-up which is how do you make the lives of the Palestinian people better, what can you resolve to allow these areas to become more investable,” Kushner said.
