Palestinian officials say US peace efforts 'doomed to fail'

Palestinian officials say US peace efforts 'doomed to fail'
The PA says that a regional tour next week by White House adviser Jared Kushner and Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, would produce "no results".
2 min read
17 June, 2018
Trump has vowed to broker the 'deal of the century'. [Getty]

US efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are "doomed to fail", the Palestinian Authority, which has frozen contacts with Washington because of its pro-Israel bias, said on Saturday.

PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told reporters that a regional tour next week by White House adviser Jared Kushner and US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, would produce "no results".

According to Israeli media, they will visit Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

"Without respect for Arab summit resolutions and those of the UN Security Council... and especially without the accord of the Palestinian people... (US peace efforts) will be doomed to fail and will destabilise the region," Abu Rudeina said.

Trump vowed to broker the "deal of the century" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after entering the White House. 

Throughout American diplomatic efforts, however, Palestinian officials have expressed impatience with Trump's Middle East envoys, saying they received no clear vision from the US on the direction or substance of talks.

Some Palestinian officials even accused Kushner's team of sounding like "Netanyahu's advisers".

"It's clear that if the 'deal of the century' does materialise it will not be remotely close to the bare minimum that is acceptable for us, so it won't mean anything," a Palestinian official told Público.

"The Trump administration is telling us the same thing that the Jewish settlers are telling us: 'accept apartheid and the economy will be fine'," the official added.

The current blueprint for the US peace plan foresees a demilitarised Palestinian state with full Israeli control of its borders and airspace.

Settlements will remain in place in the occupied West Bank, while East Jerusalem has effectively been taking off the negotiating table following Trump's recognition of the city as Israel's capital and the subsequent relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv.

The Palestinian Authority broke off official contact with the Trump administration after the US recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said at the time that the United States had disqualified itself as a mediator in the conflict, vowing to no longer accept it has a role in the peace process.

East Jerusalem is considered occupied Palestinian territory under international law and its future is one of the key final status issues to be negotiated.

The US embassy was opened on 14 May, one day before the Palestinians commemorate their mass displacement in the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel.