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White House: Camp David-style peace summit was fake news

There will be no Mideast peace summit as reports suggested, a White House official said.

By World Israel News Staff

“No regional peace summit is planned in the Middle East at this time,” a White House official told Israel Hayom in response to reports that the Trump administration planned to hold a Camp David-like summit with Arab leaders to discuss its Mideast peace proposal.

The report appears to have originated with Israeli paper Yediot Ahronot, which reported on Wednesday that President Donald Trump intended to invite Arab leaders to Camp David ahead of Israel’s September elections.

The paper said that the conference was developed in conjunction with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s U.S. Ambassador Ron Dermer with the goal of helping Netanyahu in his election campaign.

However, the unnamed White House official dispelled reports of a planned summit and said that the peace team led by Trump Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, which arrived on Wednesday night in Israel, will return after its Middle East tour and “report back to the president.” After which the next steps will be discussed.

Kushner, who met with Netanyahu on Wednesday night immediately after his arrival, is in the Middle East to build momentum following the Bahrain Workshop in late June.

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There, the Trump peace team revealed the economic elements of its peace deal, which included a detailed plan involving $50 billion in aid to Palestinians and Arab countries.

Also attending the meeting was Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt, U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman and U.S. Special Representative on Iran Brian Hook.

The paper notes that Hook’s presence signals that Iran was among the topics of discussion at the meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday.