RAMALLAH, Wednesday, June 12, 2019 (WAFA) – The Palestinian government said today that Arab countries said to participate in the US-sponsored meeting in the Bahraini capital, Manama, planned to open on June 24, have not confirmed their participation yet.

“Contrary to what was reported yesterday, the Palestinian government was notified that Jordan, Morocco and Egypt have not announced their participation in the Bahrain workshop,” Palestinian government spokesman Ibrahim Milhim said in a statement.

He reiterated Palestine’s absolute rejection of the meeting, stressing that it will not attend it while urging all other countries to also boycott the meeting.

The Palestinians believe the US is trying to undermine Palestinian aspirations in freedom, independence and statehood by focusing on the economic side of the conflict with Israel, which is the theme of the Manama meeting, rather than on the political issue as well.

The Palestinian position is that the only road to peace in the region is by ending the 52-year-long Israeli occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip and the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the June 4, 1967 borders while solving all final status issues, mainly the refugee issue based on United Nations resolution 194.

M.K.