POMPEO OPENS UP ABOUT TRUMP PEACE PLAN IN CLOSED-DOOR MEETING
“He was not in any way confident that the process would lead to a successful conclusion,” said one of the attendees under condition of anonymity.
BY TZVI JOFFRE. JUNE 3, 2019. jerusalem post.
In a
closed-door meeting with Jewish leaders on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo opened up about the Trump administration’s upcoming Middle East peace
plan, saying that “it may be rejected,” the Washington
Post reported.
Pompeo spoke at a private meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations.
“Could
be in the end, folks will say ‘It’s not particularly original, it doesn’t
particularly work for me,’ that is, ‘it’s got two good things and nine bad
things, I’m out,'” Pompeo said in the meeting.
The secretary of state added that “the big question is can we get enough
space that we can have a real conversation about how to build this out.”
Pompeo also noted that the plan has been
repeatedly delayed, explaining that it “has taken us longer to roll out
our plan than I had originally thought it might — to put it lightly.”
The Washington Post referred to the
secretary of state’s statements as the most “unvarnished comments to
date” from a US official about the “deal of the century.”
Pompeo emphasized that there are
“no guarantees that we’re the ones that unlock” the deadlocked
conflict.
“I get why people think this is going to be a deal that only the Israelis
could love,” Pompeo said, addressing the widespread belief that the plan
will favor the Israeli government. “I hope everyone will just give the
space to listen and let it settle in a little bit.”
Some of those attending the meeting said
that they got the impression that Pompeo was not optimistic about the upcoming
peace plan. “He was not in any way confident that the process would lead
to a successful conclusion,” said one of the attendees under condition of
anonymity to the Washington Post.
Elan Carr, the State Department’s special envoy to combat antisemitism also
attended the meeting and told the Washington Post that he
thought Pompeo “provided a hopeful assessment over the prospect of a peace
deal between Israel and the Palestinians.”
“It was an excellent briefing that was very well received by the
conference,” Carr said in a State Department statement.
“The fact that Pompeo so easily conceded the perception – and likely the
reality – that the plan was strongly structured and tilted toward the Israelis
is striking,” said Aaron David Miller, a former negotiator and analyst on
Middle East issues for both Republican and Democratic administrations,
according to the Washington Post.
Malcom Hoenlein, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organizations, however stated that he thought Pompeo’s remarks were addressing
the awareness of allegations of pro-Israel bias, not his own view of the peace
plan. “He was saying it’s too easy to fall into the trap of these negative
assessments.”
Although Pompeo is not overseeing the peace plan, he is kept updated about the
effort, including plans for what to do if Israel decides to annex territory in
the West Bank.
During the round of Israeli elections in April, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu promised to annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank if he won.
Pompeo
stated that in the case that Israel does decide to annex territory in the West
Bank, the administration would then consider “what would be the best ways
to achieve the outcomes that we think are in America and Israel’s best
interests.”
“I have seen what I believe are all of the details of what it is we are
going to roll out,” Pompeo stated, according to the Washington Post.
The secretary of state said that the Trump
administration knows achieving a peace agreement will not be easy. “We’re
under no illusions [that] we’re going to show up with this thing and everyone’s
going to say, ‘tell me where to go for the signing ceremony,'” Pompeo
explained.
Pompeo added that the State Department has considered what it would do if the
plan “doesn’t gain traction.”
“I don’t want to call it failing,” he explained. “Call it whatever. I
fail a lot, so it’s not about not using a word like that.”
Addressing questions of whether there was an effort to bring the Palestinians
on board, Pompeo explained that “everyone will find something to hate
about the proposal” but that everyone, including the Palestinians, “will find
something that they say that’s something to build upon,” according to the Washington
Post.
New York Times White House correspondent Mark Landler claimed on Sunday
that the White House is expected to wait to reveal the political portion of the
Middle East peace plan, until after Israel’s second election in September 17.
“But that timing has grown increasingly problematic. Any new Israeli
coalition probably would not be formed until at least October, which would
delay the announcement of a Trump plan until November, uncomfortably close to
the first primaries of the 2020 election in the United States,” Landler
wrote.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke out against the deal at a May 27
event honoring donors to the Mahmoud Abbas Foundation, saying, “May the ‘Deal
of the Century’ – the deal of shame – go to hell. The same goes for the Bahrain
economic workshop that they are planning for the next month, in order to sell
us more and more illusions.”
Abbas told attendees that the Palestinians will not accept the results of the
Bahrain meeting, even if they appear to be in the Palestinians’ favor.
In a speech on al-Quds Day, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah related to the
Trump peace plan, saying that “it is a religious, moral, national and political
obligation to oppose [it], since this is a deal that is unjust and is contrary
to the rights of the holy places.”
He further stressed that “the responsibility is clear: We must confront this
deal, and we are capable of obstructing it.”