Trump Administration
Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said “any meeting, whether in Bahrain or elsewhere and without the legitimate Palestinian endorsement, proves that Washington cannot and will not succeed on its own in achieving anything.”
Also not in attendance: Russia, China and the Palestinian Authority.
While Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will also attend the summit, the Palestinian Authority, Russia and China plan to boycott it.
Worldwide protests are set to coincide with the U.S.-sponsored “Peace to Prosperity” conference in Bahrain.
Business allies include Tom Barrack, CEO of real estate investment firm Colony Capital; Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Dina Powell of Goldman Sachs.
The general feeling in the United States and Israel at this point is that this plan is “dead on arrival,” especially since the Palestinian leadership has already rejected it out of hand and refused to attend the summit in Bahrain. Nevertheless, “Phase 1” is in motion.
“We are not rejectionist,” said Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh of the upcoming U.S. Mideast peace plan. “Our problem is that we know. There are so many people who are blind, but we know—we know where they are taking us.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has shown a willingness for talks with Tehran, though he added: “No preconditions. If they want to meet, I’ll meet. Anytime they want.”
Ari Fleischer, who served as White House press secretary under U.S. President George W. Bush, tweeted: “The fact that a guest at this meeting took an audio and provided it to the media is disgusting. The guests were fortunate to be invited to a meeting like this. To record it and release it is a betrayal of trust.”
“It may be rejected. 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,’ ” said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a private meeting with Jewish leaders.
In a closed-door meeting in New York, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledges that “this has taken us longer to roll out our plan than I had originally thought it might—to put it lightly.”
The administration will begin rolling out its peace proposal, dubbed the “deal of the century,” at a conference in Bahrain scheduled for June 25-26 to promote stimulating the economy in the Palestinian territories.
