AFP |
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is worried the Trump administration’s soon-to-be-released Middle East peace plan will be considered “unworkable,” and might not gain traction, US media reported on Sunday.
Pompeo’s remarks to a private meeting of Jewish leaders, first reported by The Washington Post, show that even the plan’s own backers expect the latest United States blueprint for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be met with deep skepticism.
The economic components of the proposal are to be unveiled at a conference in Bahrain on June 25-26. “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,'” the Post reported, citing an audio recording of the meeting it had obtained.
The body has passed several resolutions affirming a two-state solution to the conflict, but Kushner has hinted the plan will not endorse creating a Palestinian state.
Jared Kushner’s Deal of the Century
When asked about the recording in an interview in Switzerland Monday with the Sinclair Broadcast Group, Pompeo did not deny its authenticity.
He acknowledged that, given the “important relationship” the US has with Israel, “I could see how someone might be concerned that a plan that this administration put forward might —- without knowing the true facts of what is contained in the plan —- they might perceive that it was going to be fundamentally one-sided.”
But, he stressed, “it is just simply not true. I think there will be things in this plan that lots of people like.”
The long-awaited plan spearheaded by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has already been rejected by the Palestinians, who say the US president’s policies have shown him to be blatantly biased in favor of Israel.
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Meanwhile, Israeli politics was upended last week when a snap election was set for September after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a veteran conservative close to Trump, failed to form a coalition.
Another key broker in the peace process, the United Nations, says it will stay away from the Bahrain meeting.
The body has passed several resolutions affirming a two-state solution to the conflict, but Kushner has hinted the plan will not endorse creating a Palestinian state.
Amanda Rivkin, writer and researcher, observed that this “sublime” leak indicates that the White House deal and the Trump-led administration is backed by an “illegitimate, hostile foreign power”.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had earlier said that the Palestinians believe that the Trump administration’s plan is heavily biased against their interests.
Rivkin tweeted, “Everyone loves a good leak but this one is sublime … they will deny anyways though because this illegitimate, hostile foreign power backed regime loves asking us to close our eyes + ignore our ears as well. J-Kush won’t be delivering peace in our time. Sad!”
https://twitter.com/amandarivkin/status/1135305618783383553
Strongly Tilted Towards Israel
In the remarks delivered Tuesday to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Pompeo acknowledged the blueprint’s perceived favoritism to Israel but hoped it would nonetheless be given a fair hearing.
“I get why people think this is going to be a deal that only the Israelis could love,” he said, according to the Post. “I understand the perception of that. I hope everyone will just give the space to listen and let it settle in a little bit.”
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Speaking to the Washington Post, Aaron David Miller, a former negotiator and analyst focused on the Middle East, observed that Pompeo’s statements were “the most revealing and real assessment of the plan that I’ve heard so far.”
Miller said, “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.”
Pompeo added that the Trump-led administration was always aware that achieving a sustainable peace agreement would be challenging. He said, “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.’ It doesn’t work that way.”
Given the fact that the annexation of West Bank settlements with Israel is one of Netanyahu’s election pledges, Pompeo said that in the instance Israel implements the annexation, the Trump-led government would contemplate “what would be the best ways to achieve the outcomes that we think are in America and Israel’s best interests.”
Read More: Why the Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan shouldn’t be released
Responding to a question on USA’s efforts to incorporate Palestinians into this process, Pompeo stressed that while “everyone will find something to hate about the proposal” however, all parties, including the Palestinians, “will find something that they say that’s something to build upon.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had earlier said that the Palestinians believe that the Trump administration’s plan is heavily biased against their interests. Abbas stated that the Trump administration’s economic summit for the Palestinians in Bahrain and Jared Kushner’s “deal of the century” can both “go to hell”.
AFP with additional input by GVS news desk.