HIGHLY ANTICIPATED PEACE PLAN AFTER ISRAEL VOTES
“…Toughest deal of all,” says Trump. Economic plan was presented in Bahrain in June.
BY REUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF, TOVAH LAZAROFF AUGUST 19, 2019
WASHINGTON –
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would likely wait until
after Israel’s Sept. 17 elections to release his peace plan to resolve
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict prepared by White House senior adviser Jared
Kushner.
“I probably will wait, but we may put out pieces of it,” Trump said, explaining
that “peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians” is the “toughest deal of
all.”
There has
been “decades of hate” between the Israelis and the Palestinians, Trump said.
“It is tough to make a deal when there is that much hate,” he added.
The first part of Trump’s Middle East peace plan – the economic part – was
presented in Manama,
Bahrain, in June at the “Peace to Prosperity” workshop led by Kushner.
US special envoy Jason Greenblatt also spoke of a proposed $50b. economic
development plan for the Palestinians, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon within the
context of a peace deal.
While dozens of government officials and representatives from around the world
took part in the conference – including from Arab countries such as Saudi
Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco – no government
representation from Israel or the Palestinian
Authority attended and very few Palestinian business people attended.
The PA boycotted the event saying that it was an effort to “bribe” the
Palestinians, and Bahrain decided not to invite any Israeli government
officials when it became apparent that no PA officials would be on hand.
The PA has repeatedly stated that it has no interest in participating in
Trump’s peace plan, even before seeing the political portion which is likely to
deal with borders.
The PA is
particularly upset with the US over its relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem, the closure of its Washington offices and its decision to halt
annual payments of $500m. in financial assistance.
On Sunday, Trump spoke of his decision to halt the funds, explaining that he
believed it would help strengthen US-Palestinian ties in the long run and is
one of the reasons that the PA would support the deal at the end of the day. He
hinted that eventually the funds would be restored.
“I also cut it [monetary funds] back on the Palestinians because they speak
very badly about our country,” Trump said. “We were paying $500,000 million a
year. Now we are paying nothing, but I think we are going to get further
because I could see opening that up again,” Trump said.
“I think they are going to make a deal and I think one of the reasons they are
going to want to make a deal is because of that [the elimination of US
financial assistance],” Trump said.
The Yemina Party immediately released a statement saying that Trump’s
announcement proved that the election is about one central question, whether
the Dan region in the center of the country would turn into the border region
for the West Bank.
“Only a large Yemina Party can ensure that a true right-wing government is
formed which refuses to give up territory, says ‘no’ to displacing tens of
thousands of families from their homes and insists that millions of Israelis
won’t become hostages of Hamas,” the party said.
The choice in front of the voters, the party said, is either a large Yemina
Party, or a government of concessions from the Left.