Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh yesterday said that any US peace plan that ignores the Palestinian people’s political aspirations for an independent state is doomed to fail.
Shtayyeh’s comments immediately cast a cloud over the US-led Mideast peace conference expected to take place late next month in the tiny Persian Gulf state of Bahrain.
A short time later, the Palestinian Authority said aid it would boycott the conference.
“We will inform Bahrain that we will not take part in such a conference,” said Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “We will not sell our country based on an economic project.”
The White House on Sunday announced it would unveil the first phase of its long-awaited Mideast peace plan at the conference, saying it would focus on economic benefits that could be reaped if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved.
The plan envisions large-scale investment and infrastructure work, much of it funded by wealthy Arab countries.
However, officials say the June 25 to 26 conference would not include the core political issues at the center of the conflict: final borders, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees or Israeli security demands.
“Any solution to the conflict in Palestine must be political ... and based on ending the occupation,” Shtayyeh said at a Palestinian Cabinet meeting. “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.”
The Palestinians, who severed ties with the US over a year ago, have repeatedly expressed fears that the White House will try to buy them off with large sums of investment in exchange for freezing their demands for an independent state.
They believe the US is trying to rally support from other Arab countries to bully them into accepting a plan they see as unacceptable.
In a joint statement with Bahrain, the White House said the gathering would give government, civil and business leaders a chance to rally support for economic initiatives that could be possible with a peace agreement.
“The Palestinian people, along with all people in the Middle East, deserve a future with dignity and the opportunity to better their lives,” US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, said on Sunday.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
RSS