Russia rejects ‘Deal of the Century’

Russia on Tuesday rejected the US peace plan for Israel and the Palestinian Arabs.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the upcoming economic conference in Bahrain is an attempt by the US “to substitute the genuine peace process with imposed economic incentives.”

“It is all about another US attempt to shift the priorities of the regional agenda and impose an ‘ alternative vision’ of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement. The persistent desire to replace the task of achieving a comprehensive political solution with a package of the so-called ‘economic incentives’ while eroding the principle of creating two states for two peoples is causing deep concern,” the ministry said, as quoted by the Russian Sputnik news agency.

The statement comes ahead of the upcoming “Peace to Prosperity” economic workshop, to be held on June 25 and 26 in Bahrain. The Trump administration is planning to release the economic component of its upcoming Middle East peace plan during that workshop.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has already announced that it would boycott the economic conference, with its “information minister” Nabil Abu Rudeineh saying that the conference would be a meaningless meeting that was part of a meaningless plan.

On Sunday, the PLO Executive Committee called on the world to boycott the Bahrain conference, saying it hadn’t “authorized any party to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people.”

“The goal pursued by the US for the workshop is to start implementing the Deal of the Century and link it to economy after it takes steps in implementing the political parts of the deal,” it added.

On Monday, senior PLO and PA official Saeb Erekat said he had been informed by China and Russia that they will not participate in the Bahrain conference.

Erekat also said that the PA had asked both countries to boycott the economic conference.

The Chinese envoy to the PA confirmed the remarks and noted that a tripartite agreement had been reached with Syria to boycott the conference.

While China and Russia will not attend the conference, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates publicly said last week they will take part in the conference and will help promote economic cooperation for the entire Middle East.