Jared Kushner (L) and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo in 2017. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Egypt and Morocco have informed the White House they will attend the conference in Bahrain at which the Trump administration will launch the economic portion of its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, U.S. official tells me. This comes after King Abdullah II announced Jordan would also attend.
Why it matters: This is a big achievement for the White House peace team, led by Jared Kushner. The White House has been asking Egypt, Jordan and Morocco to announce their participation for several weeks now but they all stalled due to pressure from the Palestinians, who are boycotting the conference. The Palestinian lobbying efforts appear to have failed.
King Abdullah said today at a meeting with reporters that Jordan must attend every international meeting on the Palestinian issue — including the Bahrain conference — in order to know what is being discussed. "We have to be in the room," he stressed.
- At the same briefing, he said the doesn't expect anything to happen this summer with the political part of the U.S. peace plan.
- King Abdullah echoed the widespread assessment in the region that new Israeli elections in September will delay the release of the political portion to at least November, and perhaps indefinitely.