TEL AVIV – Arab nations are putting pressure on the Palestinians to walk back a rejection of a US-led peace conference in Bahrain next month, according to Palestinian officials cited by the Jerusalem Post.
“Some Arab countries are unhappy that we immediately rejected the idea of the workshop,” a senior Palestinian Authority official told the Post, but declined to name which countries. “They are now asking us to stop attacking the workshop and not to oppose the participation of Palestinian businessmen.”
On Tuesday, the PA officially rejected the U.S.’s invitation to attend the conference, during which the Trump administration plans to unroll the economic phase of its long-awaited peace proposal.
“This is an official announcement that Palestine will not attend the Manama meeting. This is a collective Palestinian position, from President Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO Executive Committee to all Palestinian political movements and factions, national figures, private sector and civil society,” senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said in a statement, adding that no Palestinian representative would be present.
“Those concerned and [who] want to serve the interest of the Palestinian people should respect this collective position,” he said.
The Post cited other Palestinian officials as saying that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates expressed “concern” over the PA’s opposition to the workshop.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced that they will attend the Manama workshop.
“The Arabs say we should have consulted with them before publicly rejecting the workshop and calling for its boycott,” a second official said. “They are actually pressuring us to stop speaking out against the Bahrain conference and to allow businessmen to go there.”
PA officials plan on convening in the coming days to discuss the latest developments on the peace deal, the report said.
On Sunday, the U.S. announced it would unroll the first phase of the long-anticipated proposal at the forum, saying it would outline the economic rewards if a peace deal were to be struck.
Special Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt said the proposal has the “potential to unlock a prosperous future for the Palestinians.”
Erekat responded by saying, “Palestine’s full economic potential can only be achieved by ending the Israeli occupation, respecting international law and UN resolutions.”
Last week, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said the Palestinians would not attend the Bahrain workshop.
“Any solution to the conflict in Palestine must be political … and based on ending the occupation,” he said. “The current financial crisis is a result of a financial war waged against us and we will not succumb to blackmailing and extortion and will not trade our national rights for money.”
Ahmed Majdalani, the social development minister and a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, reiterated Shtayyeh’s comments, saying: “There will be no Palestinian participation in the Manama workshop.”
The Palestinian leadership warned any Palestinian businessmen against taking part.
“Any Palestinian who would take part would be nothing but a collaborator for the Americans and Israel,” Majdalani said.
The only Palestinian currently set to attend the workshop is Ashraf Jabari, a Hebron businessman with ties to settlers who received a personal invitation from the Trump administration.
“Any Palestinian who participates in the [Bahrain] conference is a traitor, collaborator and coward,” said Osama Qawassmeh, spokesman for the Palestinian ruling Fatah faction in the West Bank. “We call on all our friends and the Arabs not to attend this conference.”
Others who received invitations, including Bashar Masri and Adnan Majli, announced they would boycott the summit.
Greenblatt shot back, saying that it is “difficult to understand why the Palestinian Authority would reject a workshop designed to discuss a vision with the potential to radically transform lives and put people on a path toward a brighter future.”
“History will judge the Palestinian Authority harshly for passing up any opportunity that could give the Palestinians something so very different, and something so very positive, compared to what they have today,” Greenblatt said.
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