US won't release Mideast peace plan before Israeli vote
Last updated on: 28 August,2019 09:53 pm
Trump has repeatedly boasted that he is the most pro-Israeli US president in history.
(AFP) – A long-promised US proposal for Israeli-Palestinian peace will remain under wraps until Israel s elections are over in September, the White House special envoy said Wednesday.
"We have decided that we will not be releasing the peace vision (or parts of it) prior to the Israeli election," Jason Greenblatt tweeted.
Greenblatt appeared to be clearing up confusion over the timing of the plan s release following a mixed message from President Donald Trump over the weekend.
Trump, speaking at a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France, said the deal would wait for after the election but seemed to say a preview was coming.
"I think you may see what the deal is before the election," he told reporters.
In the same comments, Trump insisted that the Palestinians "would like to make a deal." He also defended his decision to cut off US aid to the UN agency helping Palestinians refugees.
Trump has repeatedly boasted that he is the most pro-Israeli US president in history.
The peace plan, devised by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, has been rejected in advance by the Palestinians.
While the political part of the plan remains unknown, Kushner has aired the economic side, which would call for large-scale outside investment.