Umar Farooq
31 May 2019•Update: 01 June 2019
WASHINGTON
The United Nations has yet to appoint a delegate to attend a conference in Bahrain where the U.S. is set to reveal economic aspects of its peace plan for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict dubbed the "Deal of the Century", a UN spokesman said Friday.
The workshop, scheduled for June 25 and 26, will reportedly be headed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior White House adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and his Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt.
"At present, we don’t have anyone who is slated to attend," Farhan Haq, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters.
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have officially announced their intention to send representatives to the event.
Palestine, however, has refused to take part in the conference and said it is aimed at undermining the rights of their people.
Bahrain has defended the upcoming meeting, characterizing it as an attempt to "empower" the Palestinians.
Ever since Trump’s controversial decision in December 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah has rejected any U.S. role in Middle East peacemaking.
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the decades-long Middle East dispute, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- occupied by Israel since 1967 -- might one day serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.
While the UN has yet to announce any intention of attending the conference, Haq mentioned that the UN has encouraged countries to provide funding to the Palestinian Authority so it can maintain functionality and humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip.
