The White House announced Sunday the first phase of senior adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s Middle East peace plan will take place next month in Bahrain and is being billed as an economic “workshop” to encourage financial investment in the occupied Palestinian territories. The workshop will bring together finance ministers with business leaders from around the world. They will reportedly avoid addressing any political issues. Palestinian officials said they were not consulted prior to the planning of the so-called workshop, and dismissed any attempts to tackle peace talks in the region without addressing human rights and the illegal occupation. This is Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.
Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh: “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.”