White House Not Inviting Israeli Officials to Bahrain Conference

The White House is not inviting Israeli government officials to the U.S.-led Bahrain conference next week to keep the event apolitical, Reuters cited an anonymous senior administration official as saying. The unidentified source added that Palestinian business representatives were expected to attend despite a boycott from the Palestinian leadership due to what is alleged to be Washington’s pro-Israel bias. “We’re inviting the Israeli business people and Palestinian business people. We’d like to make it as apolitical as possible,” the official reportedly said. The workshop will exclusively present the economic portion of the Trump Administration’s peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The first stage of what has been dubbed the “deal of the century” by U.S. President Donald Trump is to encourage Arab investment in the Palestinian Territories before covering political issues. Despite a boycott campaign led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who urged Arab governments not to participate, it was announced last week that Morocco, Egypt and Jordan were planning to attend. Additionally, U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt announced earlier this week that unveiling the much-anticipated peace plan will be delayed until November, when a new Israeli government is expected to be in place following the country’s September 17 elections.