More political deadlock as Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan falls flat

The “prosperity to peace workshop” in Bahrain, where the economic section of the peace plan was set to be unveiled, was further downgraded after it emerged the Israeli government had not been invited. Instead of finance minister Moshe Kahlon, the expected representative, there are now vague references of “Israeli businesspeople and social society leaders”, but no names have been forthcoming.

The Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas has already said it would boycott the event, and it was not claer what the level of representation would be for major Arab nations including Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. The US has previously announced they would be take part.

At this stage, there seem to be two views within Mr Trump’s team regarding the peace plan.

Jared Kushner, the president’s special advisor and son-in-law who is in charge of drafting the plan, still believes that there is a chance of launching a viable process and has been courting the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, in an attempt to gain support.

But others are already preparing to blame the Palestinians for failure. In an interview with Israel’s Channel 13 television on Tuesday, Mr Greenblatt remarked that if the plan did not succeed, “I will know who was to blame.”