The United States has announced that it has scheduled a conference, to be held in Bahrain next month, with the aim of encouraging international investment in Palestinian-controlled territories in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
White House officials described the anticipated conference as the first step of President Donald Trump’s long-awaited peace initiative to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, dubbed by the American leader as “the deal of the century.”
The U.S. announcement came amid continued resentment by the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, which vehemently rejects any change to their core demands. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said: “The American administration announced there will be a workshop next month about the economic and investment situation in the region, including Palestine, as a first step of the ‘deal of the century’. The cabinet stresses that any solution to the political conflict depends on ending the occupation, achieving the national rights of the Palestinian people, expressed by establishing their independent, sovereign and viable state on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.”
In his speech to Palestinian ministers in PA’s Ramallah headquarters, Prime Minister Shtayyeh did not immediately say whether Palestinian representatives would attend the event, scheduled for the 25th and 26th of June in Manama, which U.S. officials have predicted will include representatives and business executives from Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
While the Israeli Foreign Ministry refused to comment on TV7’s request for a response, domestic media reports cited Israeli officials as indicating Jerusalem’s expected participation.