Al Jazeera World

It's been two years since Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS) ascended to power. Many consider him to be the kingdom's de facto ruler.

A lot of people in the West had pinned their hopes on the young reformist prince and what they described as his bold vision for Saudi Arabia. But with the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the persecution of activists and feminists, and the jailing of human rights defenders, including Saudi Muslim leader Salman al-Awdah, many find his leadership decisions concerning.

"The promise was to reform the social fabric in Saudi Arabia, was to diversify the Saudi economy and to promote moderate Islam," says Abdullah Alaoudh, a scholar, rights advocate and the son of al-Awdah.

"What has been done is actually the opposite of all these three different aspects," he tells Al Jazeera.

Alaoudh, a senior fellow at Georgetown University in the US, is sceptical of what he calls MBS's "superficial reforms" in Saudi Arabia, including lifting a driving ban on women, because this has happened in the midst of other basic rights and liberties being taken away.

He says the reforms are akin to a "PR campaign" for MBS who "took advantage of a lot of people in the West not knowing the dynamics of the Saudi society".

"[MBS has] attacked the moderate voices of the kingdom; the voices that have been spearheading the campaign against extremism, terrorism in the kingdom," Alaoudh says.

"Look at the liberals, the feminists, the Shia, the Sunni, the Islamists, the different women, men. The leaders of all these segments of Saudi society all have been either put in jail, silenced, intimidated or threatened in one way or another. Even the tribal leaders in Saudi Arabia. Even his own family."

Alaoudh calls the murder of Khashoggi "horrible" but says it was also a "wake-up call" for the Saudi public, the international community and global media.

"The case of Khashoggi is actually representative of the human rights cases in Saudi Arabia ... The same minds that treated Jamal Khashoggi with brutality, with a gruesome killing, are still torturing women human rights defenders, feminists, the moderate Muslims, and the economists in Saudi Arabia."

Alaoudh says he remains concerned for his own safety and the safety of his father, who was arrested after sending out a tweet - an apparent call for reconciliation - at the start of the Saudi blockade on Qatar in 2017. Calling his father a "religious democrat" and "an icon of enlightenment, of moderate Islam", Alaoudh says these are the types of discourse MBS seeks to clamp down on because he fears it the most.

Asked whether he believes that his father's death penalty would be executed, Alaoudh says: "Did we ever think that those who were sent to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul will execute that horrible, gruesome killing of my friend Jamal Khashoggi? If those who killed Jamal Khashoggi were just rogue operatives, the head of that rogue operation, is it still in force? Is it still administering and managing the situation in Saudi Arabia? So I really can't expect anything."

Alaoudh says his larger fear is for the future of his country, where extreme voices have been empowered while those seeking to uphold basic rights and liberties are targeted or tortured or killed.

"My father is the most popular figure in the kingdom and he was treated like that. So just imagine those who are less known or even not known to the public or to the international media, what would they do? How would they treat such people?"

But he says there is more to the country than those who control it today.

"MBS is not Saudi Arabia. MBS is not the history of Saudi Arabia. MBS is not his own royal family and MBS is not the Saudi public," he says.

"So if you [the West] want to really establish a real alliance with Saudi Arabia, if you want to make sure that you have a stable relationship, if you want to have a long term alliance, you have to establish that with the Saudi public who will be there forever."

--

More from Talk To Al Jazeera on:

YouTube - http://aje.io/ttajYT

Facebook - http://facebook.com/talktoaj

Twitter - http://twitter.com/talktoaljazeera

Website - http://www.aljazeera.com/talktojazeera/

-

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

It's been two years since Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS) ascended to power. Many consider him to be the kingdom's de facto ruler.

A lot of people in the West had pinned their hopes on the young reformist prince and what they described as his bold vision for Saudi Arabia. But with the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the persecution of activists and feminists, and the jailing of human rights defenders, including Saudi Muslim leader Salman al-Awdah, many find his leadership decisions concerning.

"The promise was to reform the social fabric in Saudi Arabia, was to diversify the Saudi economy and to promote moderate Islam," says Abdullah Alaoudh, a scholar, rights advocate and the son of al-Awdah.

"What has been done is actually the opposite of all these three different aspects," he tells Al Jazeera.

Alaoudh, a senior fellow at Georgetown University in the US, is sceptical of what he calls MBS's "superficial reforms" in Saudi Arabia, including lifting a driving ban on women, because this has happened in the midst of other basic rights and liberties being taken away.

He says the reforms are akin to a "PR campaign" for MBS who "took advantage of a lot of people in the West not knowing the dynamics of the Saudi society".

"[MBS has] attacked the moderate voices of the kingdom; the voices that have been spearheading the campaign against extremism, terrorism in the kingdom," Alaoudh says.

"Look at the liberals, the feminists, the Shia, the Sunni, the Islamists, the different women, men. The leaders of all these segments of Saudi society all have been either put in jail, silenced, intimidated or threatened in one way or another. Even the tribal leaders in Saudi Arabia. Even his own family."

Alaoudh calls the murder of Khashoggi "horrible" but says it was also a "wake-up call" for the Saudi public, the international community and global media.

"The case of Khashoggi is actually representative of the human rights cases in Saudi Arabia ... The same minds that treated Jamal Khashoggi with brutality, with a gruesome killing, are still torturing women human rights defenders, feminists, the moderate Muslims, and the economists in Saudi Arabia."

Alaoudh says he remains concerned for his own safety and the safety of his father, who was arrested after sending out a tweet - an apparent call for reconciliation - at the start of the Saudi blockade on Qatar in 2017. Calling his father a "religious democrat" and "an icon of enlightenment, of moderate Islam", Alaoudh says these are the types of discourse MBS seeks to clamp down on because he fears it the most.

Asked whether he believes that his father's death penalty would be executed, Alaoudh says: "Did we ever think that those who were sent to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul will execute that horrible, gruesome killing of my friend Jamal Khashoggi? If those who killed Jamal Khashoggi were just rogue operatives, the head of that rogue operation, is it still in force? Is it still administering and managing the situation in Saudi Arabia? So I really can't expect anything."

Alaoudh says his larger fear is for the future of his country, where extreme voices have been empowered while those seeking to uphold basic rights and liberties are targeted or tortured or killed.

"My father is the most popular figure in the kingdom and he was treated like that. So just imagine those who are less known or even not known to the public or to the international media, what would they do? How would they treat such people?"

But he says there is more to the country than those who control it today.

"MBS is not Saudi Arabia. MBS is not the history of Saudi Arabia. MBS is not his own royal family and MBS is not the Saudi public," he says.

"So if you [the West] want to really establish a real alliance with Saudi Arabia, if you want to make sure that you have a stable relationship, if you want to have a long term alliance, you have to establish that with the Saudi public who will be there forever."

--

More from Talk To Al Jazeera on:

YouTube - http://aje.io/ttajYT

Facebook - http://facebook.com/talktoaj

Twitter - http://twitter.com/talktoaljazeera

Website - http://www.aljazeera.com/talktojazeera/

-

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

It's been two years since Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS) ascended to power. Many consider him to be the kingdom's de facto ruler.

A lot of people in the West had pinned their hopes on the young reformist prince and what they described as his bold vision for Saudi Arabia. But with the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the persecution of activists and feminists, and the jailing of human rights defenders, including Saudi Muslim leader Salman al-Awdah, many find his leadership decisions concerning.

"The promise was to reform the social fabric in Saudi Arabia, was to diversify the Saudi economy and to promote moderate Islam," says Abdullah Alaoudh, a scholar, rights advocate and the son of al-Awdah.

"What has been done is actually the opposite of all these three different aspects," he tells Al Jazeera.

Alaoudh, a senior fellow at Georgetown University in the US, is sceptical of what he calls MBS's "superficial reforms" in Saudi Arabia, including lifting a driving ban on women, because this has happened in the midst of other basic rights and liberties being taken away.

He says the reforms are akin to a "PR campaign" for MBS who "took advantage of a lot of people in the West not knowing the dynamics of the Saudi society".

"[MBS has] attacked the moderate voices of the kingdom; the voices that have been spearheading the campaign against extremism, terrorism in the kingdom," Alaoudh says.

"Look at the liberals, the feminists, the Shia, the Sunni, the Islamists, the different women, men. The leaders of all these segments of Saudi society all have been either put in jail, silenced, intimidated or threatened in one way or another. Even the tribal leaders in Saudi Arabia. Even his own family."

Alaoudh calls the murder of Khashoggi "horrible" but says it was also a "wake-up call" for the Saudi public, the international community and global media.

"The case of Khashoggi is actually representative of the human rights cases in Saudi Arabia ... The same minds that treated Jamal Khashoggi with brutality, with a gruesome killing, are still torturing women human rights defenders, feminists, the moderate Muslims, and the economists in Saudi Arabia."

Alaoudh says he remains concerned for his own safety and the safety of his father, who was arrested after sending out a tweet - an apparent call for reconciliation - at the start of the Saudi blockade on Qatar in 2017. Calling his father a "religious democrat" and "an icon of enlightenment, of moderate Islam", Alaoudh says these are the types of discourse MBS seeks to clamp down on because he fears it the most.

Asked whether he believes that his father's death penalty would be executed, Alaoudh says: "Did we ever think that those who were sent to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul will execute that horrible, gruesome killing of my friend Jamal Khashoggi? If those who killed Jamal Khashoggi were just rogue operatives, the head of that rogue operation, is it still in force? Is it still administering and managing the situation in Saudi Arabia? So I really can't expect anything."

Alaoudh says his larger fear is for the future of his country, where extreme voices have been empowered while those seeking to uphold basic rights and liberties are targeted or tortured or killed.

"My father is the most popular figure in the kingdom and he was treated like that. So just imagine those who are less known or even not known to the public or to the international media, what would they do? How would they treat such people?"

But he says there is more to the country than those who control it today.

"MBS is not Saudi Arabia. MBS is not the history of Saudi Arabia. MBS is not his own royal family and MBS is not the Saudi public," he says.

"So if you [the West] want to really establish a real alliance with Saudi Arabia, if you want to make sure that you have a stable relationship, if you want to have a long term alliance, you have to establish that with the Saudi public who will be there forever."

--

More from Talk To Al Jazeera on:

YouTube - http://aje.io/ttajYT

Facebook - http://facebook.com/talktoaj

Twitter - http://twitter.com/talktoaljazeera

Website - http://www.aljazeera.com/talktojazeera/

-

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

It's been two years since Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS) ascended to power. Many consider him to be the kingdom's de facto ruler.

A lot of people in the West had pinned their hopes on the young reformist prince and what they described as his bold vision for Saudi Arabia. But with the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the persecution of activists and feminists, and the jailing of human rights defenders, including Saudi Muslim leader Salman al-Awdah, many find his leadership decisions concerning.

"The promise was to reform the social fabric in Saudi Arabia, was to diversify the Saudi economy and to promote moderate Islam," says Abdullah Alaoudh, a scholar, rights advocate and the son of al-Awdah.

"What has been done is actually the opposite of all these three different aspects," he tells Al Jazeera.

Alaoudh, a senior fellow at Georgetown University in the US, is sceptical of what he calls MBS's "superficial reforms" in Saudi Arabia, including lifting a driving ban on women, because this has happened in the midst of other basic rights and liberties being taken away.

He says the reforms are akin to a "PR campaign" for MBS who "took advantage of a lot of people in the West not knowing the dynamics of the Saudi society".

"[MBS has] attacked the moderate voices of the kingdom; the voices that have been spearheading the campaign against extremism, terrorism in the kingdom," Alaoudh says.

"Look at the liberals, the feminists, the Shia, the Sunni, the Islamists, the different women, men. The leaders of all these segments of Saudi society all have been either put in jail, silenced, intimidated or threatened in one way or another. Even the tribal leaders in Saudi Arabia. Even his own family."

Alaoudh calls the murder of Khashoggi "horrible" but says it was also a "wake-up call" for the Saudi public, the international community and global media.

"The case of Khashoggi is actually representative of the human rights cases in Saudi Arabia ... The same minds that treated Jamal Khashoggi with brutality, with a gruesome killing, are still torturing women human rights defenders, feminists, the moderate Muslims, and the economists in Saudi Arabia."

Alaoudh says he remains concerned for his own safety and the safety of his father, who was arrested after sending out a tweet - an apparent call for reconciliation - at the start of the Saudi blockade on Qatar in 2017. Calling his father a "religious democrat" and "an icon of enlightenment, of moderate Islam", Alaoudh says these are the types of discourse MBS seeks to clamp down on because he fears it the most.

Asked whether he believes that his father's death penalty would be executed, Alaoudh says: "Did we ever think that those who were sent to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul will execute that horrible, gruesome killing of my friend Jamal Khashoggi? If those who killed Jamal Khashoggi were just rogue operatives, the head of that rogue operation, is it still in force? Is it still administering and managing the situation in Saudi Arabia? So I really can't expect anything."

Alaoudh says his larger fear is for the future of his country, where extreme voices have been empowered while those seeking to uphold basic rights and liberties are targeted or tortured or killed.

"My father is the most popular figure in the kingdom and he was treated like that. So just imagine those who are less known or even not known to the public or to the international media, what would they do? How would they treat such people?"

But he says there is more to the country than those who control it today.

"MBS is not Saudi Arabia. MBS is not the history of Saudi Arabia. MBS is not his own royal family and MBS is not the Saudi public," he says.

"So if you [the West] want to really establish a real alliance with Saudi Arabia, if you want to make sure that you have a stable relationship, if you want to have a long term alliance, you have to establish that with the Saudi public who will be there forever."

--

More from Talk To Al Jazeera on:

YouTube - http://aje.io/ttajYT

Facebook - http://facebook.com/talktoaj

Twitter - http://twitter.com/talktoaljazeera

Website - http://www.aljazeera.com/talktojazeera/

-

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

"Protecting a library is not an easy task," says Mustafa Jahic, "especially during wartime."

It was 1992, the siege of Sarajevo had begun, and Jahic - then the director of the Gazi Husrev-Beg public library - had in his care a priceless, ancient collection of hand-written books and illuminated manuscripts.

"The Gazi Husrev-Beg library contains the memories of all the generations of the last 1,000 years. More than 100,000 items. Everything from manuscripts to printed books," says Osman Lavic, the library's keeper of manuscripts.

"Some were written by Arabs, perhaps in Fez or Baghdad, and then rewritten by a Turk living in the Caucasian Republic and then purchased by Bosnians. So if you followed the trail of the books you’d see the beauty in their diversity, their multi-ethnic and multicultural nature," he says.

But when the city was attacked by the Serbian army, the preservation of books and manuscripts became the least of peoples' problems.

Bosnia's National Library was shelled and burned to the ground, its entire contents destroyed.

"The culture of our people, the identity, the history of Bosnia, for centuries in one place. And suddenly it was being swallowed by the fire and the flames," says firefighter Ismet Tucak, who responded to the blaze at the National Library.

Fearing the Gazi Husrev-Beg library would be attacked next, Jahic's staff took the momentous decision to move their most precious works to safety.

Dodging Serbian snipers and street violence, the small band of book-lovers - including the cleaner and the Congolese nightwatchman - moved the manuscripts, one box at a time, to preserve a valuable part of their written history.

"As we were carrying the boxes, Sarajevo was under shell fire," cleaner Dzehva Dudo recalls. "We were running from one building to another."

Jahic remembers the team working "discretely, without much talking".

"The conditions of war are very special. You have to take decisions at every moment. You improvise," he says.

In a brave act of collective personal defiance and self-sacrifice, the library staff risked their lives to rescue over 10,000 precious books and manuscripts while the Bosnian War raged around them.

"It would have been better to die together with the books than to live without them," says Abbas Lutumba Husein, who was the night-watchman at the time.

The others agree.

"The books are as important as people," Dudo says. "They are the most important things in the city of Sarajevo."

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

"Protecting a library is not an easy task," says Mustafa Jahic, "especially during wartime."

It was 1992, the siege of Sarajevo had begun, and Jahic - then the director of the Gazi Husrev-Beg public library - had in his care a priceless, ancient collection of hand-written books and illuminated manuscripts.

"The Gazi Husrev-Beg library contains the memories of all the generations of the last 1,000 years. More than 100,000 items. Everything from manuscripts to printed books," says Osman Lavic, the library's keeper of manuscripts.

"Some were written by Arabs, perhaps in Fez or Baghdad, and then rewritten by a Turk living in the Caucasian Republic and then purchased by Bosnians. So if you followed the trail of the books you’d see the beauty in their diversity, their multi-ethnic and multicultural nature," he says.

But when the city was attacked by the Serbian army, the preservation of books and manuscripts became the least of peoples' problems.

Bosnia's National Library was shelled and burned to the ground, its entire contents destroyed.

"The culture of our people, the identity, the history of Bosnia, for centuries in one place. And suddenly it was being swallowed by the fire and the flames," says firefighter Ismet Tucak, who responded to the blaze at the National Library.

Fearing the Gazi Husrev-Beg library would be attacked next, Jahic's staff took the momentous decision to move their most precious works to safety.

Dodging Serbian snipers and street violence, the small band of book-lovers - including the cleaner and the Congolese nightwatchman - moved the manuscripts, one box at a time, to preserve a valuable part of their written history.

"As we were carrying the boxes, Sarajevo was under shell fire," cleaner Dzehva Dudo recalls. "We were running from one building to another."

Jahic remembers the team working "discretely, without much talking".

"The conditions of war are very special. You have to take decisions at every moment. You improvise," he says.

In a brave act of collective personal defiance and self-sacrifice, the library staff risked their lives to rescue over 10,000 precious books and manuscripts while the Bosnian War raged around them.

"It would have been better to die together with the books than to live without them," says Abbas Lutumba Husein, who was the night-watchman at the time.

The others agree.

"The books are as important as people," Dudo says. "They are the most important things in the city of Sarajevo."

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

"Protecting a library is not an easy task," says Mustafa Jahic, "especially during wartime."

It was 1992, the siege of Sarajevo had begun, and Jahic - then the director of the Gazi Husrev-Beg public library - had in his care a priceless, ancient collection of hand-written books and illuminated manuscripts.

"The Gazi Husrev-Beg library contains the memories of all the generations of the last 1,000 years. More than 100,000 items. Everything from manuscripts to printed books," says Osman Lavic, the library's keeper of manuscripts.

"Some were written by Arabs, perhaps in Fez or Baghdad, and then rewritten by a Turk living in the Caucasian Republic and then purchased by Bosnians. So if you followed the trail of the books you’d see the beauty in their diversity, their multi-ethnic and multicultural nature," he says.

But when the city was attacked by the Serbian army, the preservation of books and manuscripts became the least of peoples' problems.

Bosnia's National Library was shelled and burned to the ground, its entire contents destroyed.

"The culture of our people, the identity, the history of Bosnia, for centuries in one place. And suddenly it was being swallowed by the fire and the flames," says firefighter Ismet Tucak, who responded to the blaze at the National Library.

Fearing the Gazi Husrev-Beg library would be attacked next, Jahic's staff took the momentous decision to move their most precious works to safety.

Dodging Serbian snipers and street violence, the small band of book-lovers - including the cleaner and the Congolese nightwatchman - moved the manuscripts, one box at a time, to preserve a valuable part of their written history.

"As we were carrying the boxes, Sarajevo was under shell fire," cleaner Dzehva Dudo recalls. "We were running from one building to another."

Jahic remembers the team working "discretely, without much talking".

"The conditions of war are very special. You have to take decisions at every moment. You improvise," he says.

In a brave act of collective personal defiance and self-sacrifice, the library staff risked their lives to rescue over 10,000 precious books and manuscripts while the Bosnian War raged around them.

"It would have been better to die together with the books than to live without them," says Abbas Lutumba Husein, who was the night-watchman at the time.

The others agree.

"The books are as important as people," Dudo says. "They are the most important things in the city of Sarajevo."

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

"Protecting a library is not an easy task," says Mustafa Jahic, "especially during wartime."

It was 1992, the siege of Sarajevo had begun, and Jahic - then the director of the Gazi Husrev-Beg public library - had in his care a priceless, ancient collection of hand-written books and illuminated manuscripts.

"The Gazi Husrev-Beg library contains the memories of all the generations of the last 1,000 years. More than 100,000 items. Everything from manuscripts to printed books," says Osman Lavic, the library's keeper of manuscripts.

"Some were written by Arabs, perhaps in Fez or Baghdad, and then rewritten by a Turk living in the Caucasian Republic and then purchased by Bosnians. So if you followed the trail of the books you’d see the beauty in their diversity, their multi-ethnic and multicultural nature," he says.

But when the city was attacked by the Serbian army, the preservation of books and manuscripts became the least of peoples' problems.

Bosnia's National Library was shelled and burned to the ground, its entire contents destroyed.

"The culture of our people, the identity, the history of Bosnia, for centuries in one place. And suddenly it was being swallowed by the fire and the flames," says firefighter Ismet Tucak, who responded to the blaze at the National Library.

Fearing the Gazi Husrev-Beg library would be attacked next, Jahic's staff took the momentous decision to move their most precious works to safety.

Dodging Serbian snipers and street violence, the small band of book-lovers - including the cleaner and the Congolese nightwatchman - moved the manuscripts, one box at a time, to preserve a valuable part of their written history.

"As we were carrying the boxes, Sarajevo was under shell fire," cleaner Dzehva Dudo recalls. "We were running from one building to another."

Jahic remembers the team working "discretely, without much talking".

"The conditions of war are very special. You have to take decisions at every moment. You improvise," he says.

In a brave act of collective personal defiance and self-sacrifice, the library staff risked their lives to rescue over 10,000 precious books and manuscripts while the Bosnian War raged around them.

"It would have been better to die together with the books than to live without them," says Abbas Lutumba Husein, who was the night-watchman at the time.

The others agree.

"The books are as important as people," Dudo says. "They are the most important things in the city of Sarajevo."

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

US President Donald Trump's "deal of the century" - his administration's proposal for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - kicked into gear in Manama, Bahrain this week as officials from the region gathered for the so-called 'Peace to Prosperity' workshop.

Already, sceptics are voicing concern, saying the American side is using money to bribe the Palestinians.

The initial economic stage of the deal hopes to drum up $50bn in investment, money that primarily is expected to come from other Arab nations, principally in the Gulf.

Participants of the Manama meeting will discuss projects and conditions for investments in more detail. Then, based on the outcome of this meeting, the next step would be to fashion a political settlement that would translate financial commitments into reality on the ground in Palestine.

However, Palestinians have derided the plan as an "economy first" approach that is doomed to fail. The Palestinian Authority is arguing for a reverse order: a political settlement first, money later - an approach that would tackle the difficult questions of establishing a Palestinians state, end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and allow refugees to return.

Palestinian leaders boycotted the June 25 and 26 meeting, saying the gathering circumvents a political settlement based on a two-state solution, and is an ill-fated attempt by the US administration to "liquidate" the Palestinian cause.

However, the senior adviser to the US president and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner - who has been tasked with leading the process - told Al Jazeera the reaction was "fairly predictable". He said believed the event would be a success despite the boycott, citing the presence of delegates from regional countries and a large number of international investors.

"What [the Palestinian leadership] have been saying is a lot of hot rhetoric about rejecting everything before they even see it, which is, in my opinion, not a very responsible position."

When questioned why the proposal did not want to settle some of the political questions that could stave off conflict before it pours money into infrastructure, Kushner said: "that's been the traditional thinking, and that has not worked".

"The president is not a traditional politician. He wants to do things in a different way. If we can get people through this process to look at this problem differently, to see what the future could be, then I think that could be a very very successful thing."

Outlining the Trump administration's "different" approach, he said: "What we have tried to do is help people identify what a future could look like. And hopefully we get people to all agree ... and then we get people to look at, maybe, let's commit to the future in the event that there is a peace agreement. Perhaps that will create a different condition through which people can then approach some of these political issues that have been unresolvable for a very long time."

Kushner called the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative "a great effort" but said it is not possible to solve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a deal along those lines.

"I think we all have to recognise that if there ever is a deal, it's not going to be along the lines of the Arab peace initiative. It will be somewhere between the Arab peace initiative and somewhere between the Israeli position," he said.

He also defended Trump's 2017 decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, saying: "Israel is a sovereign nation; a sovereign nation has the right to determine where their capital is and America has the right to recognise the decision". He said the relocation of the embassy should not affect final-status negotiations with the Palestinians.

Kushner said that on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides, there are voices who accuse the other of having no interest in peace. But he added that peace needs to come from compromise and negotiation.

"If we want to find a pathway forward, it means that both sides need to find a place where they both feel that they can gain more than they give, and move forward and have the opportunities to live better lives," he said.

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

US President Donald Trump's "deal of the century" - his administration's proposal for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - kicked into gear in Manama, Bahrain this week as officials from the region gathered for the so-called 'Peace to Prosperity' workshop.

Already, sceptics are voicing concern, saying the American side is using money to bribe the Palestinians.

The initial economic stage of the deal hopes to drum up $50bn in investment, money that primarily is expected to come from other Arab nations, principally in the Gulf.

Participants of the Manama meeting will discuss projects and conditions for investments in more detail. Then, based on the outcome of this meeting, the next step would be to fashion a political settlement that would translate financial commitments into reality on the ground in Palestine.

However, Palestinians have derided the plan as an "economy first" approach that is doomed to fail. The Palestinian Authority is arguing for a reverse order: a political settlement first, money later - an approach that would tackle the difficult questions of establishing a Palestinians state, end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and allow refugees to return.

Palestinian leaders boycotted the June 25 and 26 meeting, saying the gathering circumvents a political settlement based on a two-state solution, and is an ill-fated attempt by the US administration to "liquidate" the Palestinian cause.

However, the senior adviser to the US president and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner - who has been tasked with leading the process - told Al Jazeera the reaction was "fairly predictable". He said believed the event would be a success despite the boycott, citing the presence of delegates from regional countries and a large number of international investors.

"What [the Palestinian leadership] have been saying is a lot of hot rhetoric about rejecting everything before they even see it, which is, in my opinion, not a very responsible position."

When questioned why the proposal did not want to settle some of the political questions that could stave off conflict before it pours money into infrastructure, Kushner said: "that's been the traditional thinking, and that has not worked".

"The president is not a traditional politician. He wants to do things in a different way. If we can get people through this process to look at this problem differently, to see what the future could be, then I think that could be a very very successful thing."

Outlining the Trump administration's "different" approach, he said: "What we have tried to do is help people identify what a future could look like. And hopefully we get people to all agree ... and then we get people to look at, maybe, let's commit to the future in the event that there is a peace agreement. Perhaps that will create a different condition through which people can then approach some of these political issues that have been unresolvable for a very long time."

Kushner called the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative "a great effort" but said it is not possible to solve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a deal along those lines.

"I think we all have to recognise that if there ever is a deal, it's not going to be along the lines of the Arab peace initiative. It will be somewhere between the Arab peace initiative and somewhere between the Israeli position," he said.

He also defended Trump's 2017 decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, saying: "Israel is a sovereign nation; a sovereign nation has the right to determine where their capital is and America has the right to recognise the decision". He said the relocation of the embassy should not affect final-status negotiations with the Palestinians.

Kushner said that on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides, there are voices who accuse the other of having no interest in peace. But he added that peace needs to come from compromise and negotiation.

"If we want to find a pathway forward, it means that both sides need to find a place where they both feel that they can gain more than they give, and move forward and have the opportunities to live better lives," he said.

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe

- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish

- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera

- Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/