Palestinian officials said over the weekend that they
will not participate in this week’s US-sponsored
conference in Poland on peace and security in the Middle
East, dubbing it an American-Israeli “conspiracy aimed
at eliminating the Palestinian cause.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s
ruling Fatah faction also accused Israel and the US of
planning to exploit the event to impose US President
Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-unveiled plan for peace in the
Middle East.
On Friday, a senior US official was quoted as saying
that the Palestinians have been invited to the
conference, which will take place in Warsaw on Wednesday
and Thursday. The conference will address a range of
issues, including terrorism, extremism, missile
development, maritime trade and security, and threats
posed by proxy groups across the region, according to
the US State Department.
Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner will attend
the conference and discuss with participants plans for
peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the official
said.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month
that the meeting would also deal with Iran’s
“destabilizing influence” in the region.
PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said in response to
the US invitation that the Warsaw conference “is an
attempt at bypassing the Arab Peace Initiative and
destroying the Palestinian national project.” Erekat
said the Palestinians will not attend the conference and
have “not mandated anyone to talk on behalf of
Palestine.”
Another PA official, Hussein al-Sheikh, also rejected
the invitation, and said the PLO was the only party
mandated to represent or talk on behalf of the
Palestinians. Fatah spokesman Osama Qawassmeh warned
that any Palestinian or Arab who accepts Trump’s “deal
of the century” would be accused of betraying Jerusalem
and Islamic and Christian holy sites. He too emphasized
that the PLO was the only party which has the authority
to speak on behalf of the Palestinians.
The PA, which has been boycotting the Trump
administration since December 2017, has expressed fear
that the Warsaw conference’s main goal would be to
promote normalization between Israel and some Arab
countries.
In the past two weeks, several PA officials have
called on the Arab countries to boycott the upcoming
conference and to remain committed to the 2002 Arab
Peace Initiative, which calls for normalizing ties
between Israel and the Arab countries only after a full
Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines.
Qawassmeh warned on Saturday that any Arab leader who
meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the
Warsaw conference would be “stabbing Jerusalem and our
Palestinian people.” The Palestinians, he added, are
opposed to any form of normalization “with the Israeli
occupation entity because that would be a free gift to
Tel Aviv.”
The PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the US of
“declaring war on the just Palestinian cause” and
international resolutions. It claimed that the US was
convening the conference in Warsaw as part of its effort
to impose a new world order. The ministry warned all
countries against participating in the conference,
saying it was also part of an American-Israeli
“conspiracy” to eliminate the Palestinian issue.