Any American peace plan that ignores the Palestinian people's political aspirations for an independent state is doomed to fail, a senior Palestinian official said on Monday.
The comments made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman immediately cast a cloud over the conference, which is expected to take place in late June in the tiny Gulf Arab state of Bahrain.
"Any plan without a political horizon will not lead to peace," Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.
The White House announced on Sunday that it will unveil the first phase of its long-awaited Middle East peace plan at the conference, saying it will focus on economic benefits that could be reaped if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved.
The plan envisions large-scale investment and infrastructure work – much of it funded by wealthy Arab countries – in the Palestinian territories.
But officials said the June 25-26 conference will not include the core political issues at the center of the conflict: final borders, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees or Israeli security demands.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told reporters that the Palestinians have not been consulted about the U.S.-led conference that is designed to encourage international investment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
"The cabinet wasn't consulted about the reported workshop, neither over the content nor the outcome nor timing," he said.
The Palestinians, who severed ties with the U.S. over a year ago, have repeatedly expressed fears that the White House will try to buy them off with large sums of investments in exchange for freezing their demands for an independent state. They believe that the U.S. is trying to rally support from other Arab countries to bully them into accepting a plan which they see as unacceptable.
In a joint statement with Bahrain, the White House said the gathering will give government, civil and business leaders a chance to rally support for economic initiatives that could be possible with a peace agreement.
"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."
In the absence of direct talks with Palestinian leaders, U.S. officials often talk of engaging private Palestinians and "civil society" groups. It remains unclear who these contacts are or whom they represent.
Trump's ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has embraced a group led by Israelis in Judea and Samaria that is seeking to promote business ties with Palestinian partners. Avi Zimmerman, the head of the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce, said he had not received an invitation to Bahrain but believes that the group's programs will be presented.
Without a formal address on the Palestinian side, it is also unclear how any large-scale projects would be carried out. It also was not known how any projects would be carried out in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. and Israel consider Gaza's Hamas rulers to be a terrorist group and have no direct contact with them.
The Palestinians severed ties with the White House after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017 and subsequently moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The Palestinians have already said they would reject any peace plan offered by the U.S., saying Trump is unfairly biased toward Israel.
Kushner said it is disheartening that the Palestinian leadership has attacked the plan before it has been unveiled.
Earlier this month, Kushner insisted that the plan he's helped craft is a very detailed, fresh approach that he hopes 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" and not anchored to previous, failed negotiations, high-level political concepts or stale arguments.
