Palestinian PM:

US-led conference in Bahrain detached from reality, has no future

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has censured the recent US-led conference in Bahrain in support of President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal for “peace” between the Israeli regime and Palestinians, saying the summit was detached from realities on the ground and has no future.

News ID: 445707

Date: 28 June 2019 - 21:34

RNA - Shtayyeh said on Friday that the so-called "Peace to Prosperity" workshop on June 25 and 26 in Manama, which sought to discuss what the United States had described as the economic part of President Donald Trump's "deal of the century,” would not bear any fruits and does not stand a chance of success as the two-day event ignored reality and was simply an abstract initiative.

The remarks came a day after a senior member of the political bureau of Palestinian Hamas resistance movement poured scorn on the Trump administration's much-touted peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying the Bahrain meeting was doomed to failure from the very beginning.

Salah Bardawil said the conference had been “an abortive" attempt and "a miserable gathering”, which was being led by a bunch of novice US diplomats such as Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

The official said the plan, which aimed at eliminating the Palestinian cause, wouldn’t be able to harm the unshaken “political will and determination of Palestinian people.”

“How could such small politicians think they were able to settle the Palestinian cause using money?” the Hamas official questioned.

Bardawil also expressed anger and disappointment at some Arab rulers who were furthering hostile US-Israeli policies against Palestinians by hosting such a summit in Bahrain.

According to Press TV, the US-led Bahrain meeting on Palestine was boycotted by the Palestinian leadership.

Palestinians staged rallies across the occupied West Bank in protest against the conference and participation of Arab delegations.

Demonstrators gathered in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin, al-Khlail (Hebron), Tulkarm, Salfit, Qalqilia and Ariha (Jericho), while a general strike was staged in the besieged and impoverished Gaza Strip.

“Any plan that includes the liquidation of the Palestinian cause … is rejected by the Palestinians and is not debatable or negotiable,” Saeb Erekat, Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) executive committee, said in a statement.

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