Washington : The United States had refused humanitarian aid to Palestine for refusing to start peace talks with Israel. This caused a crisis in the Gaza Strip in Palestine. A special meeting was organised in view of this crisis. Israel along with the other Arab nations, participated in the meeting. But the Palestine President boycotted the meeting. Palestine has severed the ties at all levels with the United States after the United States announced Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
Trump administration has prepared a new proposal for Israel-Palestine peace talks. It is claimed that the United States will announce the proposal in the next few weeks. An US official connected with the meeting informed that according to the Trump administration there is a need for discussion on the crisis in the Gaza Strip in Palestine before announcing the proposal. In view of this, the Trump administration convened this meeting on Tuesday to discuss the Gaza Strip crisis.
The meeting was conducted in presence of the Senior advisor to President Trump, Jared Kushner and Trump’s special envoy to Israel-Palestinian conflict, Jason Greenblatt. Along with Israeli representatives of the Arab nations Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman attended the meeting. The Western allies Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, and Cyprus were also present for the meeting. The Fatah Party of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was also invited for the meeting. However, the meeting was conducted without the participation of the Palestinian representatives as they boycotted it.
As per the information given by an US official, the meeting lasted for about six hours. Kushner presented his plan for the humanitarian aid in Gaza for two hours. This included electricity, water supply and medical facilities. Most of these schemes have been approved in absence of the Palestinian leaders. It is claimed that because of these schemes the flow of humanitarian aid in Gaza will be restored.
An US official informed that there was no discussion on the Israel-Palestine peace talks in this six-hour long meeting. Although the Arab and Israel leaders, came face to face for the first time during the meeting, there weren’t any discussions about any other issue, clarified the US official.
President Trump announced Jerusalem as the Israeli capital on the 6th of December, last year. Protesting against this announcement, Palestine had declined to participate in the peace talks with the US mediation. The Arab countries have claimed to be exerting pressure on the Palestinian President Abbas to start the peace talks as per the US proposal.
(Courtesy: www.newscast-pratyaksha.com)
