The Trump administration will not be rolling out its much-anticipated Middle East peace plan in the near future – or possibly ever – according to a report Sunday by Israel’s Channel 2.
Citing White House officials, the Trump administration has abandoned its plans to offer a new framework for negotiations intended to lead to a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
According to the report, the move was prompted by the Palestinian Authority’s angry reaction to President Donald Trump’s December 6th announcement that the US recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and that the State Department was beginning work to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Following the declaration by President Trump, PA officials decried the shift in US policy vis-à-vis the Israeli capital, claiming that the US was no longer fit to serve as a broker for Middle East peace.
According to PA chief Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority would not consider any peace plans put forth by the Trump White House.
"The United States has proven to be a dishonest mediator in the peace process and we will no longer accept any plan from it," Abbas said at a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to AFP.
Senior PA leaders warned Vice President Mike Pence that he was no longer welcome in the region, and that PA chief Mahmoud Abbas would not meet him during a trip to Israel which had initially been planned for December 18th.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one White House official said that the administration was still committed to bringing peace to the Middle East, but added that the US was not interested in forcing either side to the bargaining table.
“The team led by [Jared] Kushner and [Jason] Greenblatt is still working hard as ever on the peace plan,” the official said. “We’re just here to help. President Trump has no intentions of forcing an agreement on either side.”
Less than two weeks after President Trump’s historic Jerusalem announcement, the president unveiled a new national security doctrine, compiled in a roughly 70-page document.
The paper deemphasized the role of the Arab-Israeli conflict in sparking Middle East turmoil, instead pointing the finger at radical Islamic terrorism and the Tehran regime.
“[F]or generations the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been understood as the prime irritant preventing peace and prosperity in the region,” the draft of the document obtained by the AP reads in part. “Today, the threats from radical jihadist terrorist organizations and the threat from Iran are creating the realization that Israel is not the cause of the region’s problems. States have increasingly found common interests with Israel in confronting common threats.”
