Lebanon has not yet received an official invitation to a conference in Bahrain next month when Washington is expected to unveil the economic aspects of its Middle East peace plan.
The meeting, planned for June 25-26, will be held in Manama.
A Lebanese diplomat told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday that if invited, Beirut would reject to send a delegation to the conference.
Beirut believes that there should be no negotiations on the economy of the Palestinian State, or anything of that sort, before finding a political solution to the conflict, and before deciding the fate of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, which rejects their naturalization, the diplomat explained.
The White House announced this month that it will launch the first phase of its peace plan at the Manama summit focusing on economic aspects.
The proposal of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has not received a warm welcome. Last week, the Palestinian Authority formally rejected an invitation to attend the conference.
Also, the majority of Palestinian businessmen decided to snub the summit, or were mainly not enthusiastic about the proposal, despite knowing that they will financially benefit from it.
Kushner and the rest of Trump’s Middle East team were surprised about the Palestinian rejection, which would probably have repercussions on the political portion of the long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan dubbed the “Deal of the Century.”
A Lebanese official downplayed the Manama meeting’s ability to set the stage for a political solution to the conflict.
The official stressed the importance of keeping a unified Lebanese stance as a guarantee to any possible future negotiations with Israel.
