Egypt, Jordan, Morocco to Attend Bahrain Peace Summit

TEL AVIV – Egypt, Jordan and Morocco have accepted the U.S.’s invitation to attend a peace summit in Bahrain later this month, the White House said Tuesday.

“Morocco, Jordan, and Egypt have told us that they are attending,” a senior White House official said.

An earlier report in the Al-Quds Palestinian daily quoted President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner confirming Amman, Rabat and Cairo’s attendance.

The report also cited comments made by Jordan’s King Abdullah II to the Ammon news agency.

In a meeting with Jordanian lawmakers and reporters, the Jordanian monarch reportedly said Amman’s presence at all international conferences on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was paramount.

He stressed that Jordan’s position on the Palestinian issue had not changed, and that his country would remain steadfast in opposing any plans that threatened the Palestinians, especially on key issues such as Jerusalem, the report said.

“Jordan continues to work with Arab and other foreign states towards an acceptable resolution to the Palestinian issue,” Abdullah was quoted as saying.

Separately, Channel 13 cited a U.S. official as saying that Morocco had also confirmed its attendance at the Manama summit.

The White House has committed to unrolling the economic portion of its long-anticipated peace proposal at the workshop, set to take place on June 25 and 26.

Israel and a number of Arab states, including Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have accepted the U.S. invitation to attend the conference.

The Palestinians have snubbed the summit.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recently said the conference will “go to hell” along with the Trump administration’s peace plan.

“The Palestinian Authority does not recognize this conference,” Abbas said.

“Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ will go to hell, as will the economic workshop in Bahrain that the Americans intend to hold and present illusions,” he added.

“Whoever is interested in proposing a solution to the Palestinian issue should begin with a diplomatic solution.”

The PA has boycotted the U.S. ever since Trump formally declared Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital in December 2017.