by Saud Abu Ramadan
GAZA/RAMALLAH, Palestine, June 26 (NNN-XINHUA) – The U.S.-sponsored economic workshop “Peace for Prosperity,” that is currently held in Manama, Bahrain for two days, was “born dead,” a senior Palestinian official said Tuesday.
“The Manama workshop was born dead and there is no alternative for the Arab Peace Initiative and the implementation of the international resolutions, to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, an aide to Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, said.
A status of outrage and a general strike dominated the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in protest against the economic workshop.
At least 12 Palestinians were injured on Tuesday afternoon, during clashes with Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip, in protest against holding the workshop.
Dozens of Palestinians reached the area in northern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel, waving Palestinian flags, chanting slogans against Israel and the United States and threw stones at the soldiers stationed on the border.
Eyewitnesses said, the soldiers fired teargas canisters and live gunfire at the demonstrators.
The Palestinian political factions stressed that “resolution to the conflict with Israel can never be economic only, but political.”
Public and private institutions, including banks, were closed, in response to the call of the Palestinian factions.
Large banners were hung across the Gaza Strip against the workshop and the U.S. plan that is being prepared to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, better known as the “Deal of the Century.”
The workshop will be attended by 39 countries, including the host country Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Morocco.
Palestinian factions and the Palestinian Authority have expressed regret over the participation of the Arab countries in the workshop and have called for a boycott.
“The Arab Peace Initiative, approved by Arab and Islamic summits and became part of the United Nations Security Council resolution 1515, is a red line, and American officials can’t reform the initiative,” said Abu Rudeineh.
Fawzi Bahroum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said, the workshop in Bahrain is a “cheap swap of money and economic projects” for the legitimate Palestinian rights.
The workshop is an attempt to glorify the U.S. “Deal of the Century” and to undermine the Palestinian rights.
Hamas, which has been ruling the Gaza Strip since it took control of the area in 2007, is receiving monthly donations from Qatar, to keep running the enclave and ease an Israeli blockade, that has been imposed for the past 12 years.
The Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank warned of the outcome of the workshop, saying that, it aims to introduce the U.S.-proposed peace plan that only serves Israeli interests.
Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas movement leader from Gaza, said that, Hamas, together with other political powers and the Palestinian people, are unified to reject and oppose the U.S. peace plan and the workshop.
Mahmoud al-Zahar, member of Hamas politburo, slammed the workshop as a “historic disgrace” and a “conspiracy” against the Palestinian cause and rights.
“Achieving economic peace or prosperity doesn’t worth a single inch of the land of Palestine,” he added.
Mohammad al-Hindi, a senior Islamic Jihad leader, said, Palestinians will thwart the “suspicious Deal of the Century.”
Talal Abu Zarifa, a senior leader in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) in Gaza, told Xinhua that, “the Bahrain workshop is a political bribe to the Palestinian people to make concessions to their legitimate rights.”
“The United States is trying to impose its dominance on the world, in order to pass its plan, but no one can force the Palestinians to accept this deal, whatever the price is,” said Abu Zarifa.– NNN-XINHUA
