By Yochanan Visser, Israel Today—
Hebrew University Professor Eli Podeh thinks the upcoming economic workshop in Bahrain has the “potential to aggravate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Podeh acknowledges that the Palestinian Arabs have been “serial refusniks” in all the processes which aimed to solve the now hundred-year-old conflict but nevertheless criticizes the US Administration of Donald J. Trump for not “consulting, sharing or coordinating with one of the parties involved in the conflict.”
The PA’s refusal to attend the economic workshop in Bahrain is “understandable” according to Podeh because it fears that ‘economic peace’ is going to be a “an alternative to real, diplomatic peace.”
Podeh says “disappointing historic experience with the contribution of economic conferences to the diplomatic process, combined with recent events, lead to the conclusion that Trump would have been better off delaying or cancelling the economic workshop altogether.”
The Israeli Middle East expert could be right about the danger that the economic conference in Bahrain has the potential to aggravate the conflict between the Palestinian Arabs and Israel.
If we take a look at current events in the territories under PA control we will see that the Palestinian leadership is preparing for more violence to derail Trump’s initiatives to create a different reality in the so-called West Bank (Judea and Samaria).
At the same time it’s easy to see why there’s no chance to reach “real diplomatic peace” between the parties in the near future as Podeh puts it.
PA officials last week announced they will try to organize another popular uprising which must coincide with Bahrain conference as the Palestinian Liberation Organization called for a general strike on June 25 when the workshop in Bahrain starts. Continue Reading….