Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said the US was abandoning the traditional parameters in mediating the peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Testifying to a House committee, Mr Pompeo expressed optimism when asked about the long-awaited US peace plan for the region, which President Donald Trump called the "deal of the century.”
”I’m very confident that what was tried before failed and I'm optimistic that what we're doing will give us a better likelihood that we'll achieve the outcomes that would be better for both the people of Israel and the Palestinian people,” Mr Pompeo said.
The Trump administration has reversed past approaches to the conflict, abandoning parameters that former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama adhered to in leading negotiations.
Those have centred around questions of borders, refugees, the status of Jerusalem, security and statehood.
But Mr Pompeo blames those boundaries for the failure to achieve peace.
"Those are the parameters that were largely at hand in the discussions before and they led us where we are today, no resolution,” he said. “Decades of trying the old way failed to resolve this conflict."
Instead the Trump administration is seeking to “broaden the debate” Mr Pompeo said.
He said the new approach was based on "the facts on the ground and a realistic assessment of what would get us a good outcome".
The administration has not definitively embraced the two-state solution. It has attributed its decisions to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and recognise the occupied Golan Heights as Israeli territory to "new facts".
Asked when the Trump peace plan, drafted by advisers Jared Kushner, Jason Greenblatt and David Friedman, might come to fruition, Mr Pompeo answered jokingly: “In less than 20 years".
“We want to make sure we have it as complete and as effective as we know how to do," he said. "When we get there, we’ll unveil it."
The plan is believed to be completed but will be released after the Israeli elections on April 9.
On a recent trip to the region, Mr Kushner and Mr Greenblatt tried to gain Arab support for the economic part of the plan.
The document is expected to tackle the conflict through aspects related to terrorism and security.
Aaron Miller, Middle East programme director at the Wilson Centre, did not share Mr Pompeo’s optimism on the new US approach.
"The goal of the Trump administration from the get-go has been to change the basic elements of the US approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict and to ensure there's no going back," Mr Miller, told The National.
He was involved in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and served in six US administrations.
Mr Miller said that on issues of “refugees, settlements, borders, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, they have taken steps to [ensure there's no going back] under the guise of ‘recognising reality’.”
“The chances of ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict were already slim to none,” he said.
But the US policy changes “will ensure that Donald Trump’s role in any possible resolution will be closed for the season".
US partners in the region, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Egypt, Oman, Jordan, Turkey and Bahrain, have rejected Mr Trump’s latest declaration to recognise the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.
Saudi King Salman received Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last month and reaffirmed Riyadh’s commitment to achieving a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Company%20profile
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Empty Words
By Mario Levrero
(Coffee House Press)
Meghan%20podcast
%3Cp%3EMeghan%20Markle%2C%20the%20wife%20of%20Prince%20Harry%2C%20launched%20her%20long-awaited%20podcast%20Tuesday%2C%20with%20tennis%20megastar%20Serena%20Williams%20as%20the%20first%20guest.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThe%20Duchess%20of%20Sussex%20said%20the%2012-part%20series%2C%20called%20%22Archetypes%2C%22%20--%20a%20play%20on%20the%20name%20of%20the%20couple's%20oldest%20child%2C%20Archie%20--%20would%20explore%20the%20female%20experience.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ELast%20year%20the%20couple%20told%20Oprah%20Winfrey%20that%20life%20inside%20%22The%20Firm%22%20had%20been%20miserable%2C%20and%20that%20they%20had%20experienced%20racism.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%22I%20don't%20ever%20remember%20personally%20feeling%20the%20negative%20connotation%20behind%20the%20word%20ambitious%2C%20until%20I%20started%20dating%20my%20now-husband%2C%22%20she%20told%20the%20tennis%20champion.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UFC Fight Night 2
1am – Early prelims
2am – Prelims
4am-7am – Main card
7:30am-9am – press cons
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20SCE%20Studio%20Cambridge%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sony%20Computer%20Entertainment%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsole%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20PlayStation%2C%20PlayStation%204%20and%205%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Formula%204%20Italian%20Championship%202023%20calendar
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Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Friday: First practice - 1pm; Second practice - 5pm
Saturday: Final practice - 2pm; Qualifying - 5pm
Sunday: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps) - 5.10pm
Company%20profile
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What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon
'Saand Ki Aankh'
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Uefa Nations League: How it Works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
