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JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will not come with a plan to restart the stalled Israel-Palestinian peace process when he visits the West Bank on Friday, at the end of the first leg of his Middle East trip, a senior administration official said.
© Reuters/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN
U.S. President Biden visits Jerusalem
Biden will restate his backing for a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict and will unveil a fresh package of economic and technical assistance for the Palestinians, but there are no expectations of any major political breakthrough.
"[There] are practical realities on the ground that we are very mindful of so we have not come in with a top-down plan but we have always said that if the parties are ready to talk, and we think they should, we will be there, right beside them," the official said.
© Reuters/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN
Biden will restate his backing for a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict and will unveil a fresh package of economic and technical assistance for the Palestinians, but there are no expectations of any major political breakthrough.
"[There] are practical realities on the ground that we are very mindful of so we have not come in with a top-down plan but we have always said that if the parties are ready to talk, and we think they should, we will be there, right beside them," the official said.
© Reuters/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN
U.S. President Biden visits Jerusalem
Biden is expected to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem before leaving for Saudi Arabia on the second stage of his trip.
Even before his visit, Palestinian leaders had accused Biden's administration of prioritizing Israel's integration into a regional security arrangement with Arab countries above their concerns, including self-determination and continued Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
© Reuters/RANEEN SAWAFTA
Biden is expected to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem before leaving for Saudi Arabia on the second stage of his trip.
Even before his visit, Palestinian leaders had accused Biden's administration of prioritizing Israel's integration into a regional security arrangement with Arab countries above their concerns, including self-determination and continued Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
© Reuters/RANEEN SAWAFTA
Palestinians take part in a protest against the visit of U.S. President Joe Biden to West Bank
On Thursday, as Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced deepening security ties in their so-called "Jerusalem Declaration," there were protests in the West Bank and Gaza against his visit.
Biden administration officials have rejected Palestinian charges of inaction, pointing to a reversal of the funding cuts and diplomatic freeze imposed by former President Donald Trump.
"There was really no connection whatsoever, no discussions with the Palestinians, funding had been entirely severed, there was really no prospect of any political discussions of any kind," the official said.
He said the move to deepen Israel's regional integration "is not ... an end run around that fundamental issue."
© Reuters/RANEEN SAWAFTA
On Thursday, as Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced deepening security ties in their so-called "Jerusalem Declaration," there were protests in the West Bank and Gaza against his visit.
Biden administration officials have rejected Palestinian charges of inaction, pointing to a reversal of the funding cuts and diplomatic freeze imposed by former President Donald Trump.
"There was really no connection whatsoever, no discussions with the Palestinians, funding had been entirely severed, there was really no prospect of any political discussions of any kind," the official said.
He said the move to deepen Israel's regional integration "is not ... an end run around that fundamental issue."
© Reuters/RANEEN SAWAFTA
Palestinians take part in a protest against the visit of U.S. President Joe Biden to West Bank
With little prospect of political progress, the focus is likely to be on the new funding and technical assistance measures Biden will unveil.
As well as a multi-year contribution of up to $100 million for hospitals in East Jerusalem, he will announce measures to upgrade telecoms networks in the West Bank and Gaza to high speed 4G standards by the end of 2023 and other measures to ease travel between the West Bank and neighbouring Jordan.
In addition, there will be a separate $201 million funding package provided through the UN relief agency UNRWA to help Palestinian refugees.
A two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state sitting alongside the existing state of Israel has long been the favoured solution for the international community. But it has appeared an increasingly distant prospect, with hardening attitudes and waning support on both sides.
On Thursday, both Biden and Lapid voiced support for the two-state model. But with Israel heading for elections in November and little backing for stopping the expansion of Israeli settlements on West Bank land that Palestinians want for a future state, immediate prospects for agreement appear remote.
© Reuters/RANEEN SAWAFTA
With little prospect of political progress, the focus is likely to be on the new funding and technical assistance measures Biden will unveil.
As well as a multi-year contribution of up to $100 million for hospitals in East Jerusalem, he will announce measures to upgrade telecoms networks in the West Bank and Gaza to high speed 4G standards by the end of 2023 and other measures to ease travel between the West Bank and neighbouring Jordan.
In addition, there will be a separate $201 million funding package provided through the UN relief agency UNRWA to help Palestinian refugees.
A two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state sitting alongside the existing state of Israel has long been the favoured solution for the international community. But it has appeared an increasingly distant prospect, with hardening attitudes and waning support on both sides.
On Thursday, both Biden and Lapid voiced support for the two-state model. But with Israel heading for elections in November and little backing for stopping the expansion of Israeli settlements on West Bank land that Palestinians want for a future state, immediate prospects for agreement appear remote.
© Reuters/RANEEN SAWAFTA
Palestinians take part in a protest against the visit of U.S. President Joe Biden to West Bank
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Biden heads to West Bank, with little to offer Palestinians
By AAMER MADHANI, JOSEPH KRAUSS and CHRIS MEGERIAN
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A mural by Palestinian artist Taqi Spateen depicts slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on part of Israel's controversial separation barrier, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, July 6, 2022. On Thursday, July 14, 2022, Lina Abu Akleh, the niece of the slain Al Jazeera journalist, is criticizing President Joe Biden for not meeting with her family as it presses the U.S. to hold Israel accountable for her death. (AP Photo/ Mahmoud Illean, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) — When President Joe Biden heads to the occupied West Bank on Friday for talks with Palestinian leaders, he will have little to offer beyond U.S. money aimed at buying calm.
He’s expected to announce $316 million in financial assistance — about a third of which will require congressional approval — and a commitment from Israel to modernize wireless access for Palestinians.
But although Biden will reiterate his support for an independent Palestinian state, there’s no clear path to one. The last round of serious peace talks broke down more than a decade ago, leaving millions of Palestinians living under Israeli military rule.
Israel’s outgoing government has taken steps to improve economic conditions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. But Yair Lapid, the caretaker prime minister, does not have a mandate to hold peace negotiations, and Nov. 1 elections could bring to power a right-wing government that is opposed to Palestinian statehood.
Meanwhile, the 86-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority administers parts of the occupied West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security, is more representative of the status quo than Palestinian aspirations.
His Fatah party lost an election, and control of Gaza, to the Islamic militant group Hamas more than 15 years ago. He called off the first national elections since then last year — blaming Israel — when Fatah appeared to be heading for another crushing defeat. Polls over the past year have consistently found that nearly 80% of Palestinians want him to resign.
Biden acknowledged this week that while he supports a two-state solution, it won’t happen “in the near-term.” The U.S. also appears to have accepted defeat in its more modest push to reopen a Jerusalem consulate serving the Palestinians that was closed when President Donald Trump recognized the contested city as Israel’s capital.
Palestinian leaders also fear being further undermined by the Abraham Accords, a diplomatic vehicle for Arab nations to normalize relations with Israel despite the continuing occupation. Biden, who heads next to Saudi Arabia to attend a summit of Arab leaders, hopes to broaden that process, which began under Trump.
Hours before Biden was set to become the first U.S. leader to fly directly from Israel to the kingdom, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation announced early Friday “the decision to open the Kingdom’s airspace for all air carriers that meet the requirements of the Authority for overflying.”
It signaled the end of its longstanding ban on Israeli flights overflying its territory — an incremental step toward the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel that builds on the strong, but informal ties the erstwhile foes have developed in recent years over their shared concerns about Iran’s growing influence in the region.
“President Biden welcomes and commends the historic decision by the leadership of Saudi Arabia to open Saudi airspace to all civilian carriers without discrimination, a decision that includes flights to and from Israel,” said U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in a statement early Friday.
There’s been hardly any mention of the Palestinians over the past two days, as Biden has showered Israel with praise, holding it up as a democracy that shares American values. At a press conference with Biden, Lapid evoked the U.S. civil rights movement to portray Israel as a bastion of freedom.
It all reeked of hypocrisy to Palestinians, who have endured 55 years of military occupation with no end in sight.
“The idea of shared values actually makes me sick to my stomach,” said Diana Buttu, a Palestinian lawyer and political analyst. “I don’t think Israeli values are anything that people should be striving towards.”
Both Biden and Lapid said they supported an eventual two-state solution in order to ensure that Israel remains a Jewish-majority state. But Biden is expected to announce little beyond financial assistance, including $201 million for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
Biden proposed $100 million, subject to congressional approval, for hospitals in east Jerusalem that serve Palestinians. Another $15 million is for humanitarian assistance, plus $7.2 million for programs to promote cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians.
His approach, often referred to as “economic peace,” has limitations.
“You can’t buy a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former U.S. State Department official. “It doesn’t work, because that’s not what drives this conflict.”
That sentiment was on display in the West Bank on Thursday, where dozens of Palestinians gathered to protest Biden. More protests were expected Friday.
“Mr. Biden is trying to marginalize the Palestinian issue,” said Mustafa Barghouti, a veteran Palestinian activist. “If he does not allow Palestinians to have their rights, then he is helping Israel kill and end the very last possibility of peace.”
At this point, the Palestinian goal of an independent state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza — territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war — appears more distant than ever.
Israel is expanding settlements in annexed east Jerusalem and the West Bank, which are now home to some 700,000 Jewish settlers. The Palestinian view the settlements — many of which resemble sprawling suburbs — as the main obstacle to peace, because they carve up the land on which a Palestinian state would be established. Most of the world considers them illegal.
Military rule in the West Bank has sown widespread despair, contributing to a recent wave of violence. A 15-year blockade of Gaza, which Israel says is needed to contain Hamas, has helped fuel four devastating wars. Jerusalem, home to famed holy sites and the emotional heart of the conflict, is as volatile as ever.
Israel has its own grievances — including Palestinian Authority payments to the families of prisoners and slain attackers, which Israel says incentivize violence. The PA defends the payments as a form of welfare for those it sees as victims of the conflict.
It’s unclear if eliminating the “martyrs’ fund” would advance the goal of statehood. Israel is dominated by nationalist and religious parties that are opposed to a Palestinian state and view the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people.
Well-known human rights groups have concluded that Israel’s seemingly permanent control over millions of Palestinians amounts to apartheid. One of those groups, Israel’s own B’Tselem, hung banners in the West Bank ahead of Biden’s visit.
Israel rejects that label as an attack on its very existence, even though two former Israeli prime ministers warned years ago that their country would be seen that way if it did not reach a two-state agreement with the Palestinians. The U.S. also rejects the apartheid allegations.
Biden will also likely see banners calling for justice for Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank in May. Israel says she might have been struck by Palestinian gunfire, while investigations by The Associated Press and other media outlets support Palestinian witnesses who say she was shot by Israeli forces.
The U.S. says she was likely killed by Israeli troops but that it appeared to be unintentional, without saying how it reached those conclusions. That angered many Palestinians, including Abu Akleh’s family, who accused the U.S. of trying to help Israel evade responsibility for her death.
___
Krauss reported from Ottawa, Ontario. Megerian reported from Washington. AP writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed.
BETHLEHEM: US President Joe Biden said during a trip to the occupied West Bank on Friday that Palestinians need to see a path towards statehood, even if hopes for a peace process with Israel remain bleak.... Read more on: https://www.omanobserver.om/article/1122209/world/region/biden-says-palestinians-need-to-see-political-horizon
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