White House's Kushner unveils economic portion of Middle East peace plan
The White House on Saturday outlined a US$50 billion Middle East economic plan that would create a global investment fund to lift the Palestinian and neighbouring Arab state economies, and fund a US$5 billion transportation corridor to connect the West Bank and Gaza.
The plan also proposes nearly a billion dollars to build up the Palestinians’ tourism sector, a seemingly impractical notion for now given the frequent flareups between Israeli forces and militants from Hamas-ruled Gaza, and the tenuous security in the occupied West Bank. Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, was more blunt, saying: “Palestine isn’t for sale."The armed Islamist group is the main internal rival to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas , whose power base is in the West Bank. But both are in rare agreement over the Trump administration.
The White House said it decided against inviting the Israeli government because the Palestinian Authority would not be there, making do instead with a small Israeli business delegation.There are strong doubts whether potential donor governments would be willing to open their chequebooks anytime soon, as long as the thorny political disputes at the heart of the decades-old Palestinian conflict remain unresolved.
“This is completely out of sequence because the Israeli-Palestinian issue is primarily driven by historical wounds and overlapping claims to land and sacred space,” said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator for Republican and Democratic administrations. A signature project would be to construct a travel corridor for Palestinian use that would cross Israel to link the West Bank and Gaza. It could include a highway and possibly a rail line. The narrowest distance between the territories, whose populations have long been divided by Israeli travel restrictions, is about 40km.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Global airlines re-routing flights to avoid Iran airspaceMAS flights to London and Middle East among those affected after Iran shoots down US drone.
Read more »
Mideast peace plan aims to raise US$50 billion for Palestinians | The Malaysian InsightUS says initiative, to be presented in Bahrain next week, will also lead to creation of 1 million jobs.
Read more »
MH17: JUST, Perdana Global Peace Foundation also question JIT's actionThey say Dr Mahathir Mohamad is right when he argues that from the very beginning there was a political script in place to put the blame upon Russia. FMTNews
Read more »
MH17: JUST, Perdana Global Peace Foundation also question JIT’s action | Malay MailKUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — The Dutch-led joint investigation team (JIT) has not produced any solid evidence to show that the four suspects it has named are guilty of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 tragedy, said the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) and the Perdana Global Peace...
Read more »