MANAMA/JERUSALEM: The first stage of President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan is being launched today Tuesday in Bahrain at a conference. The White House touts this economic plan as a bid to begin drumming up $50 billion in investment but Palestinians deride this plan as a ploy to politically enslave them and that their “economy first” approach is doomed to fail.

The two-day international meeting in Bahrain, led by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been billed as the first part of Washington’s long-delayed broader political blueprint to revive the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The details of Israeli-Palestinian peace process will be disclosed at a later date.

Unfortunately, neither the Israeli nor Palestinian governments will attend the curtain-raising event in the Bahrain’s capital, Manama. There will be close scrutiny as to whether attendees such as Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf Arab states show any interest in making actual donations to a U.S. plan.

The plan in question has already elicited bitter criticism from Palestinians and many others in the Arab world. Bahrain, a close American ally and home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been making preparations for weeks. Although the conference is supposed to focus on economics, Gulf Arab states hope their presence will also show their solidarity with the Trump administration over its hard-line against Iran, a senior Gulf diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Under the plan, donor nations and investors would contribute about $50 billion over 10 years, with $28 billion going to the Palestinian territories – the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip – as well as $7.5 billion to Jordan, $9 billion to Egypt and $6 billion for Lebanon. Among 179 proposed infrastructure and business projects is a $5 billion transport corridor to connect the West Bank and Gaza. (Agencies)