JERUSALEM (AP) — President Donald Trump's top Mideast advisers face skeptical audiences as they visit several locations in the region and in Europe to rally support for their "economy-first" plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
The White House is promoting a meeting in Bahrain next month as the first phase of its long-awaited Mideast peace plan, which envisions large-scale investment and infrastructure work, much of it funded by wealthy Arab countries, in the Palestinian territories.
But American officials say the Bahrain conference will not include the core political issues of the conflict: borders of a Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees or Israeli security demands.
The Palestinians will not attend the Bahrain meeting, rejecting the parameters of the conference, while key American allies Egypt and Jordan have not announced their plans for participation.