The Trump administration will unveil the first phase of its long-awaited blueprint for Middle East peace next month at a conference in the region that is designed to highlight the economic benefits that could be reaped if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved, the White House said on Sunday.
The plan, which has been two years in the making, envisions large-scale investment and infrastructure work in the Palestinian territories. But the central political elements remain mostly unknown. The economic workshop, which is to be held June 25-26 in Bahrain, will not address the most contentious parts of the conflict: borders, the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and Israel's security.
In a joint statement with Bahrain, the White House said that the workshop will give government, civil and business leaders a chance to gather support for economic initiatives and could be possible with a peace agreement.
A spokesman for Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said: "We have not yet received an invitation."
The U.S. wants to ensure security for Israel and economic opportunity to improve the lives of Palestinians. The administration hopes that Arab countries will help bankroll economic incentives, such as infrastructure and industrial projects, to get Palestinians to buy into the plan. But with details and political aspects of the plan still under wraps, any commitments for economic development won't be easily attained.
"The Palestinian people, along with all people in the Middle East, deserve a future with dignity and the opportunity to better their lives," U.S. President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner said in a statement on Sunday. "Economic progress can only be achieved with a solid economic vision and if the core political issues are resolved."
He said the summit was aimed at building "consensus around the best steps the international community can take to develop the foundation for a prosperous future" in the region, particularly for Palestinians.
"Economic progress can only be achieved with a solid economic vision and if the core political issues are resolved," he added.
Kushner and U.S. Special Envoy for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt have been leading efforts to write the plan, but so far, there's been no participation from the Palestinian side. The Palestinian Authority, which has complained that the White House favors Israel, severed ties with the Trump administration following several actions targeting them.
Trump closed the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington, saying that the Palestinians refused to engage in peace talks with Israel. The U.S. stopped funding the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, slashing hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for projects in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and cutting funding to hospitals in east Jerusalem. Trump also recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv.
The Palestinians demand that Israel fully withdraw from all territories it occupies. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, yet the Palestinians want those territories for a future state. They also seek the right of return to certain areas they claimed to have been displaced from as a result of Israel's founding and recognition of east Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state. It's an open question as to whether the Palestinians will exchange some or all of their demands for the prospect of economic prosperity.
In an interview last month with The Associated Press, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh likened that to "financial blackmail, which we reject."
"Our position is clear: we will neither participate in the economic segment nor in the political segment of this deal," said PLO senior official Wasel Abu Youssef.
Kushner said it has been disheartening that the Palestinian leadership has attacked the plan before it has even been unveiled.
But a senior U.S. official said that several Palestinian business leaders "have shown a lot of interest" in the conference.
The conference would show the people of Gaza, which is controlled by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, that "there are donor countries around the world willing to come in and make investments," the official said.
A senior administration official told reporters that invitations to the workshop are being sent to individuals in the U.S., Europe, the Persian 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.
The senior official said that the plan will focus on infrastructure, industry, empowering and investing in people, and government reforms "to make the area as investible as possible."
"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 told the network, adding that the White House thinks "this will showcase the potential of the entire region."
"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," the official added.
"Think about how much money is spent on bullets right now. If it could be spent on infrastructure and human capital, think about how much better the region could be."
Earlier this month, Kushner insisted that the plan that he has helped craft is a very detailed, fresh approach and hopes it 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.
The Trump administration has sought to enlist support from Arab governments as well. The plan is likely to call for billions of dollars in financial backing for the Palestinians, mostly from oil-rich Gulf states, according to people informed about the discussions.
Saudi Arabia has assured Arab allies that it would not endorse any U.S. plan that fails to meet key Palestinian concerns.
Though the plan's authors insist that the exact contents are known only to a handful of insiders, Trump's aides have disclosed it will address the major political issues such as the status of Jerusalem.
They have said they expect Israelis and Palestinians to both be critical of some of the proposals.
Kushner has declined to say whether the plan includes a two-state solution, a central goal of other recent peace efforts that is widely endorsed internationally.
