Donald Trump's $50b plan faces broad rejection

RIYADH/AMMAN/CAIRO - US President Donald Trump's economic vision as part of the wider plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was met with contempt, repudiation and exasperation from Palestine and in the Arab world.

The $50 billion "peace to prosperity" plan, unveiled by the White House on Saturday, set to be presented by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner at a conference in Bahrain from Tuesday to Wednesday, envisions a global investment fund to lift the Palestinian and neighboring Arab state economies.

But the lack of a political solution, which Washington has said would be unveiled later, prompted rejection not only from Palestinians but also in Arab countries that Israel would seek normal relations with.

Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara said on Sunday that Palestinians don't need the Bahrain meeting to build their country.

"We don't need the Bahrain meeting to build our country. We need peace, and the sequence of (the plan) - economic revival followed by peace is unrealistic and an illusion," Bishara told a meeting at the Arab League in Cairo.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday also reiterated his staunch rejection of the economic peace plan that the US proposed, saying the economic situation should not be discussed before the political one.

US Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt reportedly said last week that the political portion of the peace plan could be delayed until November.

Abbas also announced on Saturday that Palestine would not participate in the Manama economic workshop.

"Jerusalem and Palestine are not for sale," Abbas said in a meeting with the leaders of the Fatah Youth Movement in Ramallah.

For Arabian countries, from Sudan to Kuwait, prominent commentators and ordinary citizens denounced Kushner's proposals in strikingly similar terms: "colossal waste of time", "non-starter", "dead on arrival".

"Homelands cannot be sold, even for all the money in the world," Egyptian analyst Gamal Fahmy said. "This plan is the brainchild of real estate brokers, not politicians. Even Arab states that are described as moderate are not able to openly express support for it."

Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Sunday also refused the US' plan, saying the country will not be "tempted" by money into giving up Palestinian rights.

Reuters - Xinhua

(China Daily 06/24/2019 page11)