White House: Palestinians missing opportunity for peace again
White House: Palestinians missing opportunity for peace again
Vice President Mike Pence (AP/David J. Phillip)
“It’s unfortunate that the Palestinian Authority is walking away again from an opportunity to discuss the future of the region,” a White House official said of the PA’s boycott of Pence’s visit.
By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News, December 11 2017
A white House official slammed the Palestinian leadership for its boycotting of Vice President Mike Pence’s upcoming visit to Israel later this month.
The Palestinians announced that they will refuse to meet Pence in Ramallah, following President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital .
Responding to the threats, Pence’s director of communications Jarrod Agen said on Sunday that “it’s unfortunate that the Palestinian Authority is walking away again from an opportunity to discuss the future of the region.”
Despite the Palestinians’ conduct, he stated that the Trump administration “remains undeterred in its efforts to help achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians and our peace team remains hard at work putting together a plan.”
“The President has asked Vice President Pence to go to the region to reaffirm our commitment to work with partners throughout the Middle East to defeat radicalism that threatens the hopes and dreams of future generations,” Agen noted.
“The Vice President very much looks forward to traveling to the region to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and [Egyptian] President el-Sisi,” the official stated.
Jibril Rajoub, a senior Palestinian official, said Thursday that PA head Mahmoud Abbas would not meet Pence.
“In the name of Fatah, I say that we will not welcome [US President Donald] Trump’s deputy in the Palestinian territories,” he stated.
The BBC reported Friday that the US has warned the Palestinians against cancelling talks with Pence.
It would be “counterproductive” to scrap talks between Pence and Abbas planned later this month, the US said.
Tags
Who is online
91 visitors
LOL. Can anyone tell me what the Palestinians have EVER done that IS productive? I will admit that they make pretty good olive oil soap - I bought some when I was in Israel.
Well to be perfectly fair, its too early to know what, if anything, they've contributed. Why? Because the identity of "Palestinian" as a unique ethnic or national group was only created in 1967!
So let's be fair and give them a few decades before we judge their contributions or lack thereof.
1967? Half a century. Are you saying those people called Palestinians only started being born in 1967? All of a sudden the Arabs living there were "reborn" and reconstituted as Palestinians? Well, okay, then the Israelis have only existed since 1948, so they have had a score of years' advantage to be productive. But then, I think the Israelis started being productive within those first 20 years, or how else did they start to make the desert blossom?
The US has tossed itself out of the peace maker role by choosing sides. Of course the Palestinians aren't going to talk to us, we have proclaimed ourselves as Israeli assets, not honest brokers. Time for the US to go home, both sides need an unbiased peace-maker. Possibly the next president.
Unbiased? Who in the world is unbiased? If you support Israel, you're biased. If you support the Palestinians, you're biased.
All Trump needed to do was recognize West Jerusalem as Israeli and East Jerusalem as Palestinian. Instead, he gave Israel everything and now expects the Palestinians to deal with him? For someone who advertises himself as the greatest dealmaker, I have yet to see him make one good deal. As I said, hopefully our next president is rational.