Palestinians boycott White House meeting on Gaza

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has refused to take part in a meeting hosted by the White House on the situation in the Gaza Strip, with officials from Israel and Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, in attendance.

The Tuesday meeting was the first of its kind to be hosted by the White House. It was joined by representatives from Israel and 17 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Qatar, Canada, and several European states.

Gaza, which hosts roughly two million Palestinians, is facing a humanitarian crisis, driven by Israel’s 2006-present siege of the territory, and its incessant attacks and wholesale wars.

The United Nations has said the enclave could become “uninhabitable” by 2020. Tel Aviv, however, says it has to employ the blockade to pile up pressure on the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas, which runs and defends the enclave in the face of the regime’s aggression.

The White House meeting was, however, boycotted by the PA, which is outraged by US President Donald Trump’s move last December to recognize the occupied holy city of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital.”

Trump’s declaration prompted PA President Mahmoud Abbas to formally declare that Palestinians would no longer accept the US as a mediator to resolve the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict as Washington is “completely biased” towards Tel Aviv.

Ever since, Abbas has been turning to the European Union, the African Union, Russia, China, and the Arab League to join efforts aimed at resolving the conflict.

Although it has alienated the Palestinians, the US administration insists on intervening in the process.