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Economic portion of Trump Middle East Peace Plan met with immediate suspicion upon release

Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, will submit the £39 billion plan at a conference in Bahrain this week - but has already been accused of trying to bribe Palestinians

June 24, 2019 10:14
Jared Kushner in London earlier this month. The economic portion of his peace plan has already been criticised.
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The announcement of the economic portion of the long-awaited Trump Middle East peace plan has been met with an immediate rejection from both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, as well as many of the countries in the region.

Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law, has not yet revealed the political aspects of the plan, which he has been working on for the past two years. But its economic portion, due to be officially presented at a conference in Bahrain this week, has been described as an attempt to bribe the Palestinians into accepting the status quo.

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, said that “as long as there is no political solution, we will not deal with any economic solution.”

Other senior members of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank called for an end to “Israeli occupation” before any deal could be countenanced. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, responded to news of the plan by saying “Palestine is not for sale”.

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