JERUSALEM, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi dismissed on Sunday the White House' Mideast peace plan as "irrelevant," according to Israel Radio.
Speaking two days before the opening of the U.S.-led meeting on the Palestinian economy in Bahrain, Hanegbi said that the plan could be relevant only after Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian movement, loses its control over the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip has been cut off from the daily Palestinian life in the West Bank by an 11-year-old crippling blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt.
Hanegbi, also a cabinet minister and an ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Hamas is "a terror group" that does not allow any peace agreement.
The two-day workshop in Bahraini capital Manama will be held on June 25-26 and focus on the Palestinian economy.
In the workshop, the U.S. administration is expected to present the first part of President Donald Trump's "Deal of the Century," his proposed solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Palestinians have already rejected the summit as biased in favor of Israel. Following a White House decision, no Israeli officials will attend the meeting; instead, Israel will send a delegation of Israeli businessmen led by Yoav Mordechai, a former general in the Israeli army.
