RAMALLAH, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians expressed intense opposition to the Warsaw conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States, where Israel and some Arab states participated.
Palestinian observers told Xinhua in separate remarks that holding the conference deepened the Palestinians' concerns that the U.S. administration is seeking to jump over the Arab Peace Initiative at the expense of eliminating the Palestinian cause.
The Arab League released the peace initiative in 2002 in accordance to a proposal presented by Saudi Arabia to find a solution to the Palestinian question. However, Israel rejected the initiative.
Several days before the Warsaw conference, Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), stated that the Palestinians ignored an invitation to attend the conference and refused to join.
"No one is authorized to speak on behalf of the Palestinians," Erekat said, adding that "Warsaw conference is an attempt to overcome the Arab Peace Initiative and destroy the Palestinian national cause."
The Palestinian Authority (PA) presidency also said in an official statement on Thursday that the Middle East question is "political."
Nabil Abu Rdineh, the PA Presidency spokesman, said in an official statement that "without resolving the Palestinian cause based on the principle of the two-state solution ... all conferences and meetings will fail."
Ties between the PA and the U.S. administration had been severed since U.S. President Donald Trump declared in December 2017 that Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel and moved his country's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Since Trump's declaration, the Palestinians have been calling for finding an international mechanism to sponsor the peace talks with Israel.
Jehad Harb, a West Bank-based writer and political analyst, said that "Warsaw conference is a U.S. attempt to overcome the Palestinian boycott of the U.S. administration since its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel."
"For the Palestinians, the U.S. position contradicts with the Arab Peace Initiative and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, which were mentioned in the texts of the international resolutions," Harb said.
He added that the Palestinian leadership kept boycotting the U.S. administration "because it blindly supports Israel, and it is also a partner with Israel because it defends Israel's violations and negative positions."
The Palestinians still show a strict position towards the U.S. administration and keep challenging the U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan, which is called "Deal of the Century."
However, they may change their position if the U.S. regrets its policy and becomes committed to the two-state solution.
The U.S. administration also decided not to pay its annual financial share to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
Hani Habib, a Gaza-based political analyst, said that "the current U.S. administration began its hostile position towards the Palestinians from the very first day it took office in the White House."
"Inviting Arab countries like Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Morocco to participate in Warsaw conference shows the real goals to hold bilateral and multilateral dialogue between them and Israel," Habib said.
Habib added that "this is a serious shift in the file of normalization between the Arabs and Israel."
The analyst warned that "the U.S. goals of holding such a conference may lead to develop a major step towards establishing an Arab-Israeli NATO."
