UPDATE 1-Israel will consider U.S. Mideast plan, Palestinians to boycott

(Updates quotes, adds Abbas comments, background) RAMALLAH/JORDAN VALLEY, West Bank, June 23 (Reuters) - Israel's prime minister said on Sunday he would give U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan fair and open consideration, while the Palestinian president rejected the proposal.

The two leaders were commenting, separately, about Trump's plan for the first time since details of its initial, economic phase was revealed by Reuters on Saturday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, repeated Israel's consistent position that it must retain a presence in the strategic Jordan Valley, the eastern-most part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that borders Jordan.

"We'll hear the American proposition, hear it fairly and with openness. And I cannot understand how the Palestinians before they even heard the plan, reject it outright," Netanyahu said while touring the area with visiting U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton. "Under any peace agreement our position will be that Israel's presence should continue here, for Israel's security and for the security of all," Netanyahu said.

The Jordan Valley and Dead Sea area covers nearly 30 per cent of the West Bank. It was invaded and captured by Jordanian forces in the 1948-49 war that accompanied the creation of the modern state of Israel, but was captured and occupied by Israeli troops in the 1967 Six Day War.

Palestinians say that it forms an integral part of the land that they claim for a future state, as the breadbasket of the West Bank and its external border with Jordan. Palestinian officials are boycotting the Trump administration and have refused to engage with its Middle East peace plan.

Trump's team is unveiling the economic portion of the plan this week at a conference in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, which it hopes will stimulate the economy of the Palestinian territories and of the region. The political part of the plan will be rolled out at a later date. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that solely economic solutions were a non-starter.

"Money is important. The economy is important. But politics are more important. The political solution is more important," Abbas told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We welcome all those who wish to help us, whether it be in Manama or anywhere else. But for now, we reject the deal of the century," he said.

Appearing dismissive of U.S. plans to arrange massive investments in the region, Abbas said: "What have the Americans proposed that is original? 50 or 60 billion dollars? We are used to this kind of nonsense. Let's not lie to each other. We'll see if anyone lives long enough to see that $50 or $60 billion come."