Riad Malki criticises Biden's administration for its vague stance on Jewish settlements, Israeli military raids, and ongoing abuses by the Israeli occupation.
AA
Malki says the Biden administration has been mealy-mouthed about the expansion of Jewish settlements, the escalation of Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank. / Photo: AA
The Palestinian foreign minister has attacked the Biden administration as weak and passive in the Middle East, as violence between Israel and the Palestinians surges to its highest levels in nearly two decades.
“I'm frustrated,” Riad Malki told members of the Foreign Press Association, an organisation representing international media outlets in Israel and the Palestinian territories. “It seemed that (Biden) wanted to change all policies Trump has taken, but not when it comes to Palestine.”
Pressured by Israel's far-right government and running out of money, the Palestinian Authority is confronting what analysts say could be its greatest threat to its existence.
Malki said the Biden administration has been mealy-mouthed about the expansion of Jewish settlements, the escalation of Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank that have killed a growing number of Palestinians and the daily abuses of the open-ended Israeli occupation.
He also lashed out at Biden's failure to to reverse several measures taken by the Trump administration that Palestinians saw as undermining their quest for statehood.
“We have a weak (US) administration when it comes to Palestine,” he said.
“We re-engaged with the administration hoping that they would have the strength and the courage to move forward,” Malki said. “They did not.”
Malki acknowledged he had no hope for long-stalled peace talks to resume under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s far-right coalition, which includes hardline Jewish settler leaders openly hostile to the Palestinians.
Involving China
In the absence of American attempts to play peacemaker in the region, the Palestinians have considered involving China as an alternative diplomatic power on the world stage, he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing earlier this summer to discuss the pursuit of a two-state solution to the conflict.
“If peace talks happen in the future, which I doubt, why not include China?” Malki said. “China is giving signals they want to help.”
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is pushing for the normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, dispatching his national security adviser to the kingdom last week for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The opening of diplomatic relations between Israel and other Gulf Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in 2020 enraged Palestinian leaders and put them on the defensive politically.
Malki expressed hope that Saudi Arabia wouldn't follow suit in brokering a deal that would boost Israel’s standing in unprecedented ways.
“I hope that the Saudis ... will not yield to any kind of pressure or intimidation coming from the Biden administration," he said.
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