Israel to attend U.S.-led Palestinian conference
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/06/israel-to-attend-us-led-palestinian.html
Israel will attend a U.S-led conference in Bahrain next week on
proposals for the Palestinian economy as part of a coming peace plan,
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday.
The United States has billed the gathering as a workshop to boost the
Palestinian economy as part of a broader effort by President Donald
Trump’s administration to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A source briefed on the event told Reuters Israel would send a
business delegation but no government officials to the June 25-26
workshop, which is being boycotted by the Palestinian leadership.
“Israel will be at the Bahrain conference and all the coordinations
will be made,” Katz told Israeli Channel 13 News in New York.
On Twitter, Katz later added that Israel’s representation had yet to
be decided and that the country’s high-tech and innovation capabilities
could greatly benefit development in the region.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment
on what level of representation Israel was expected to have at the
conference.
U.S. officials have said they are inviting economy and finance
ministers, as well as business leaders, to Bahrain to discuss investment
in the Palestinian territories.
Palestinian leaders have spurned the conference, alleging pro-Israeli bias from Washington.
The Palestinians say the still unpublished U.S. peace plan falls
short of their goal of statehood. They blame a halt in U.S. aid and
Israeli restrictions for an economic crisis in the occupied West Bank
and Gaza Strip.
A White House official said on Tuesday that Egypt, Jordan and Morocco planned to attend the conference.
Egypt and Jordan’s participation is considered particularly important
because they have historically been major players in Middle East peace
efforts and are the only Arab states that have peace treaties with
Israel.
One of the sources briefed on the event told Reuters that U.S. and
Bahrain had deliberated over whether a non-official Israeli presence was
preferable to a government-level delegation, given that Israel
currently has a caretaker government in place, pending a September
election.
A second source said Israel would be sending a private business delegation.
Trump’s plan faces delays due to political upheaval in Israel, after
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government last month
and must fight a second election this year, set for Sept. 17.
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