In tape obtained by Washington Post, secretary of state says US’s Israel-Palestine peace plan may not ‘gain traction’.
The top diplomat of the United States has reportedly called the US administration’s long-awaited Israel-Palestine peace plan arguably “unexecutable” in comments delivered just weeks before a Washington-led economic conference in Bahrain, where the first part of the initiative is due to be
unveiled.
The Washington Post reported on Sunday it had obtained an audio recording of Mike Pompeo in which the US secretary of state told Jewish leaders that the still-secret plan might not “gain traction” and critics might reject it as not “particularly original”.
Speaking in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Pompeo reportedly said: “I get why people think this is going to be a deal that only the Israelis could love.
“I understand the perception of that. I hope everyone will just give the space to listen and let it settle in a little bit.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera, John Hudson, the Washington Post’s national security reporter who obtained the audio recording, said it appeared that Pompeo was trying to manage expectations.
“This is a big climbdown from the initial rhetoric of the ‘ultimate deal’,” Hudson said from Washington, DC, adding that Pompeo was “very much acknowledging that this could definitely not pan out”.
Since President Donald Trump announced plans for the peace proposal, which he has entrusted to his son-in-law Jared Kushner and former lawyer Jason Greenblatt, the US has taken a number of steps that have been vehemently denounced by the Palestinians, including unilaterally
recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital without a final-status agreement and moving the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.
It has also curtailed aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA), shuttered the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) delegation in Washington and cut off finance to UNRWA, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees. Trump also endorsed Israel’s sovereignty over the Israeli-
occupied Golan Heights, again reversing decades of US policy.
The moves led the PA, which governs the occupied West Bank, to cut off relations with the US last year, accusing it of having a thoroughly biased relationship with Israel.
