The tricky Palestine issue
The US is hinting at kick starting a peace proposal for the Middle East crisis to resolve the decades old Palestine issue. As part of this proposal the White House has unveiled the first part of its peace proposal, which is being deemed as an economic workshop to encourage investing capital in the West Bank, Gaza and the region.
The White House announced that the workshop will take place in Manama, Bahrain, on June 25 and 26, bringing together finance ministers with global and regional business leaders.
The effort is being headed by Jared Kushner, the senior White House adviser and President Donald Trumpís son-in-law, and White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, who have spent years developing the proposal.
The workshop however, will avoid political issues such as whether the Palestinians will get their own state. The status of Jerusalem; measures Israel takes in the name of security; and what should happen with Palestinians and their descendants who fled or were expelled from Israel around the time of the stateís creation in 1948.
The White House plan will discuss four major components: infrastructure; industry; empowering and investing in people; and governance reforms to make the area as investible as possible. The economic plan will also include a combination of grant money, low interest loans and then also private capital.
However, the moot question is that will this proposal work which ignores the basic cause of the conflict and tries to steer through the crisis using an economic model rather than a political one.
The Palestinian officials have ignored any such previous moves which have stressed on political components only. A similar meeting was held in Washington in March 2018 to discuss ways of improving the economic and humanitarian situation facing Gazans, however, the Palestinians had chosen to stay away.
The lack of interest in any economic activity rather than a political one had made it amply clear that any economic plan without political horizons will lead to nowhere as the Palestinians will not accept any proposals which do not include a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The move by the US President, Donald Trump to work out a Middle East needs to be more comprehensive as reports suggest that it does not provide for a full Palestinian state.
The plan it is believed will be outlining an offer for the Palestinians an improved version of the status quo, highlighting autonomy to the detriment of sovereignty.
Notably, the Palestinian landscape has been severely altered since the Oslo Accords came into being in 1993. The accords should have led to the creation of a Palestinian state as stipulated in 1967, however, it has led to further alienation of the people living there.
The reason being that nothing has been done to implement the agreements in spirit. Another issue that is of vital importance is that it is after many years that any a world power is trying to intervene in the decades old issue and the US needs to be fair in its approach.
The US should keep in mind the repercussions before announcing strategies. No policy will be viable unless the Palestinian narrative and their struggles to have a decent life are addressed.
KV Network
